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France

#38 overall · Score 45.7 / 100 · unchanged from 2025

Overall

#38

45.7 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Corporate

#38

28.9 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Individual

#33

49.3 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Consumption

#31

45.5 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Property

#32

40.3 / 100

unchanged from 2025

Cross-border

#13

75.6 / 100

down one place from 2025

Strengths

  • France has above-average cost recovery provisions for investments in machinery, buildings, and intangibles (though compromised by the French production taxes).
  • French companies can carry forward net operating losses indefinitely, even though deductions are capped at a share of annual income after exceeding a certain amount.
  • France has a broad tax treaty network with 123 countries.

Weaknesses

  • France has multiple distortionary property taxes with separate levies on estates, bank assets, financial transactions, and a wealth tax on real estate.
  • The tax burden on labor of 47 percent is among the highest for OECD countries.
  • France has the highest top corporate tax rate in the OECD, at 36.1 percent, including multiple surtaxes and a complex design.

Component Scores

France category scores out of 100Corporate Taxes: score 28.9, rank 38. Individual Taxes: score 49.3, rank 33. Consumption Taxes: score 45.5, rank 31. Property Taxes: score 40.3, rank 32. Cross-Border Tax Rules: score 75.6, rank 13255075100Corporate Taxes: 28.9 (rank 38)Individual Taxes: 49.3 (rank 33)Consumption Taxes: 45.5 (rank 31)Property Taxes: 40.3 (rank 32)Cross-Border Tax Rules: 75.6 (rank 13)CorporateIndividualConsumptionPropertyCross-border
Category Rank Score vs 2025
Corporate Taxes #38 28.9 unchanged from 2025
Individual Taxes #33 49.3 unchanged from 2025
Consumption Taxes #31 45.5 unchanged from 2025
Property Taxes #32 40.3 unchanged from 2025
Cross-Border Tax Rules #13 75.6 down one place from 2025

Ranking Changes, 2014–2026

France's best overall rank was 36th and its worst was 38th. It ranks 38th in 2026.

Overall rank by year for FranceFrance: 2014 rank 38, 2015 rank 38, 2016 rank 38, 2017 rank 38, 2018 rank 38, 2019 rank 38, 2020 rank 38, 2021 rank 38, 2022 rank 37, 2023 rank 36, 2024 rank 36, 2025 rank 38, 2026 rank 382014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026France 2014: rank 38France 2015: rank 38France 2016: rank 38France 2017: rank 38France 2018: rank 38France 2019: rank 38France 2020: rank 38France 2021: rank 38France 2022: rank 37France 2023: rank 36France 2024: rank 36France 2025: rank 38France 2026: rank 38#38#38

OECD Context

Each row places all 38 countries on a 0–100 score scale for one measure. France is highlighted; the dashed line is the OECD median.

All 38 Countries' Ranks

Overall and category ranks for all 38 countries
CountryOverallCorporateIndividualConsumptionPropertyCross-border
Estonia#1#2#1#24#1#7
Latvia#2#1#8#22#4#6
New Zealand#3#31#7#1#8#14
Switzerland#4#7#9#4#36#2
Lithuania#5#3#10#23#6#16
Luxembourg#6#20#21#7#15#5
Czech Republic#7#9#4#32#5#11
Australia#8#29#14#9#3#23
Turkey#9#21#6#15#22#8
Hungary#10#5#3#38#23#4
Israel#11#11#31#11#10#18
Slovak Republic#12#24#2#33#7#17
Sweden#13#6#18#26#9#12
Costa Rica#14#35#13#6#11#29
Canada#15#17#28#8#25#28
Netherlands#16#23#30#14#20#3
United States#17#8#17#3#27#37
Austria#18#18#27#17#17#10
Germany#19#30#34#13#12#9
Norway#20#15#29#27#16#15
Mexico#21#28#26#12#2#38
Finland#22#10#24#28#21#24
Greece#23#22#5#29#30#19
Chile#24#32#23#10#13#36
Slovenia#25#14#12#30#24#30
Korea#26#26#38#2#31#34
Belgium#27#16#15#25#28#21
Japan#28#36#35#5#26#31
Ireland#29#4#36#35#18#27
United Kingdom#30#25#22#34#33#1
Denmark#31#19#37#20#14#32
Poland#32#12#11#36#29#25
Portugal#33#34#19#21#19#33
Iceland#34#13#32#19#34#26
Spain#35#33#20#18#35#20
Italy#36#27#16#37#38#22
Colombia#37#37#25#16#37#35
France#38#38#33#31#32#13

Among European Peers

France ranks 27th of 27 European OECD members on the overall index.

Source: 2026 International Tax Competitiveness Index.

Notes on the Data

The 2026 Index uses the most up-to-date data available as of July 2026. Data may not reflect changes in countries making rapid reforms.

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About the Authors

Alex Mengden Tax Foundation
Expert

Alex Mengden

Economist

Alex Mengden is an Economist at the Tax Foundation, where he focuses on international tax issues and tax policy in Europe. He holds a BA in philosophy and economics from the University of Bayreuth and an MSc in economics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Tax Foundation Staff

Luis Zarka

Transatlantic Tax Fellow

Luis Zarka was a 2026 Transatlantic Tax Fellow with the Tax Foundation’s Center for Global Tax Policy.

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Sarah Wilbur

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Vice President of Communications

Jesse Solis is Vice President of Communications at the Tax Foundation, where he leads the communications team and works to build coverage of Tax Foundation’s experts and their work across the globe. He joined the team in 2021 as Communications Manager and became Communications Director in 2024.