And “tax gift from the government that is simply unacceptable”. The Senate Finance Committee adopted, on Wednesday, November 15, an amendment to the finance bill for 2024 which aims to cancel the tax exemption provision in favor of the thirty international sports federations recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). ), adopted on October 18 by the deputies, with the blessing of the government.
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This provision provides for the exemption of international sports federations from corporate tax, the property tax and the value added contribution and also the exemption of their employees from income tax for a period of five years.
The government justified it by considering that it “will promote the installation and maintenance on French territory” of these instances “by guaranteeing them an adapted and sustainable tax framework for their activities of sports governance and promotion of sports practice, which are carried out outside the competitive or commercial field” (i.e. commercial and lucrative).
“This article raises serious questions of conformity with the Constitution”pleaded, firstly, Jean-François Husson (Les Républicains), author of the amendment adopted by the senators. “The scope of the tax regime introduced by this article does not seem proportionate to the objective, which is to encourage international sports federations to set up in France, which could constitute a breach of equality in the face of public charges,” he argued.
Before the deputies, on November 3, the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, while rejecting “the term “gift””, explained that it was “a simple extension to international sports federations of systems that already exist for international organizations”.
Following Mr. Husson, the senators, however, considered this inadmissible. “argument according to which international sports federations could be assimilated to international organizations” : the exceptional nature of the exemptions from which the latter benefit “is justified by the common interest of the sovereign States which decide to associate”, while some international sports federations “pursue profitability objectives without any connection with the general interest”.
While, in front of the deputies, Ms. Oudéa-Castéra had highlighted “an attractive and proportionate device” intended for “strengthen the role and influence of France, including in international sport”the senators considered that the reasons for this exemption “are not clearly in the interest of the nation”. In their eyes, this tax provision is “of a nature to harm consent to tax”, all the more so at a time when “significant efforts are necessary today” to reduce the deficit and debt. It now remains for senators to take the step of voting on their amendment in public session.
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