Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has proposed a new annual tax of €1,000 per worker for any company in France that employs non-EU nationals. The measure, outlined in the Rassemblement National's (RN) "counter budget" as the government prepares its own 2027 Budget, would target businesses employing non-EU or non-EEA citizens on contracts lasting longer than three months.
While Le Pen's broader manifesto promises of "French preference"—which would introduce a legal framework to discriminate against non-French citizens in housing, benefits, and jobs—are tied to a potential 2027 presidential victory, RN lawmakers want this tax enacted immediately. RN MP Jean-Philippe Tanguy has tabled an amendment to the upcoming 2027 Budget debates in parliament to implement the €1,000 foreigner tax starting in January 2027. However, the amendment lacks government backing and must secure cross-party support in the Assemblée nationale to pass.
Defending the proposal, Le Pen spoke on Wednesday during a visit to a livestock show. “Foreign labour costs society money, so it is perfectly normal to consider a tax on such hires,” she said. “And the essential condition, of course, is that at the end of their employment contract, these people who have come to work here return home." RN's Renaud Labaye also aligned the measure with party ideology, calling it "the only form of discrimination we advocate – that based on nationality."
Business leaders have fiercely criticized the plan, labeling it "economic nonsense." The business association Les Entrepreneurs released a statement warning that the policy would drive up labor costs and create unnecessary hurdles. "This proposal amounts to nothing less than creating a new tax on a perfectly legal and already existing job, and thus driving up labour costs yet again," the group stated. "The priority must be to remove barriers to employment and competitiveness, not to create new ones.”
Les Entrepreneurs highlighted that low-wage sectors heavily reliant on foreign labor, such as social care, hospitality, and construction, would struggle to absorb the extra financial burden. Currently, France already restricts non-EU hiring by requiring employers to prove no qualified local candidate is available before recruiting from outside the EU. However, Le Pen aims to expand these barriers to exclude all non-French citizens, meaning even EU nationals would face job market restrictions. To this end, the RN has announced intentions to further restrict non-EU hiring, telling Le Monde that specific details would be outlined later, but emphasizing their goal to establish an "enforceable right to employment in favour of French nationals."
