#EMPLOYMENT & SOCIETY
"France has 348 taxes." That is a British think tank's count, not an official figure: France's Court of Audit identifies 243 low-yield taxes, together raising about €6 billion.
Published on October 2, 2026 · to be rechecked on December 31, 2026
In an analysis published on 30 May 2026, Tax Policy Associates, a British think tank, counts 348 taxes in France, against 60 in Germany and 90 in the UK. For France, 253 have usable revenue figures and 95 have no usable amount. Separately, France's Court of Audit counts 243 low-yield taxes in 2024 (305 in 2019), each raising less than €175 million; together they raise about €5.98 billion, out of €1,250 billion of compulsory levies.
Does France really have the most taxes?
By Tax Policy Associates' count, 348 against 60 in Germany; but that count is not official and most of these taxes raise little.
In other words: about €5.98 billion, or roughly 0.5% of compulsory levies, comes from the 243 low-yield taxes identified by the Court of Audit.
Five caveats that belong with the number
- 348 is a think tank's count, not an official statistic: its authors say their counts are not definitive and that they are less confident about France's than the UK's.
- The number of taxes does not measure the tax burden: in the same analysis, revenue is 45.3% of GDP in France and 42.2% in Germany.
- The Court of Audit counts 243 low-yield taxes (threshold of €175m per tax) raising about €5.98bn in 2024; 5.98 / 1,250bn gives about 0.5% (Ze Finance calculation).
- For 117 of these taxes, the Court has neither a known nor an estimated yield for 2024.
- The total depends on what counts as a "tax": Tax Policy Associates relies on Eurostat's national tax lists and the Court of Audit, and counted the UK with its own method.
Why it still matters: France has many taxes, but most revenue comes from a small number of them; simplifying the system is a subject the Court of Audit itself documents.
For you
- Did you know some taxes raise less than €175 million a year?
- Is the number of taxes, in your view, a good indicator of the tax burden?
Source: Tax Policy Associates, "UK, France and Germany: why do some countries have so many taxes?", 30 May 2026; Cour des comptes, Les taxes à faible rendement (2024 data).
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