(Bloomberg) -- Stellantis NV Chief Executive Officer Carlos Tavares said plans by France to raise corporate taxes will hurt investment.
“We are doing a short-term choice that will penalize the medium term,” Tavares said during an interview on LCI TV interview on Sunday.
The planned corporate tax hike will be in the “double digit” millions of euros for the automaker, he added, declining to give a specific number. Stellantis will be able to pay the tax increase, he said.
France last week unveiled a draft budget that includes higher taxes on businesses and the wealthy in an effort to trim its large debt pile.
Tavares also said the planned income-tax increase for the wealthiest in France “will have a perverse effect,” where the most skilled and youngest will likely emigrate.
In a separate interview published Sunday in Les Echos, Tavares didn’t dismiss the possibility of lowering costs at Stellantis amid increased competition by Chinese carmakers.
“Some say that we cannot reduce costs because Stellantis employees are at their limit,” Tavares told the French business daily. “If that were to be the case, we would obviously take that into account to protect our employees.”
“But at the same time, I don’t see how we can compete with competitors who are, technologically speaking, as good or even better than us, and 30% cheaper, if I cannot lower costs.”
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