Eric Coquerel, the president (La France Insoumise, LFI) of the Finance Committee, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, Minister for Public Accounts Amélie de Montchalin, and Minister of the Economy Roland Lescure, at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, January 13, 2026. JULIEN MUGUET FOR LE MONDE
Are France's wealthiest people paying the taxes they should? Do thousands of them really succeed in paying no income tax whatsoever? Set aside at the end of 2025 after failed budget talks and the adoption of a special finance law, this highly sensitive issue has come roaring back into the spotlight.
On Tuesday, January 13, Eric Coquerel, the radical-left La France Insoumise (LFI) MP who chairs the Assemblée Nationale's Finance Committee, announced at the opening of the new 2026 budget review that he had just written to the Finance Ministry to obtain detailed information on the matter. Citing a law requiring the administration to provide him with "all financial and administrative information and documents" he requests as the committee's chair, he has demande all materials held by the Finance Ministry on the subject, "whether in the form of memos, analyses, or calculations prepared by the staff of the Public Finance Directorate."
