On March 30 2026, Oxfam France filed a formal administrative appeal against the French state, accusing it of failing to guarantee tax equality, to combat tax evasion, and to evaluate the effects of its tax policies. The appeal gave the government a two‑month deadline to respond. The NGO, led by Director General Cécile Duflot, said the state had not collected taxes in a fair and equal manner, a shortfall it described as a rupture d’égalité face à l’impôt.
The administrative appeal came as the finance bill entered its first reading at the National Assembly on October 22 2026. Oxfam and allied groups such as Attac warned that the bill imposes austerity on the working and middle classes, freezing social benefits while protecting the wealthy. Raphaël Pradeau captured the criticism, saying the government claims to ask everyone for effort to fill the budget deficit but in reality prepares to hit popular and middle‑class households with benefit freezes.
Duflot repeatedly denounced what she called un système fiscal inégalitaire, arguing that large fortunes profit from many loopholes in the tax code. She pointed to a fiscal policy that spares the richest, noting that the ultra‑wealthy end up paying a lower proportion of their income in taxes than nurses and other working‑class citizens.
Among those reforms, Oxfam noted the abolition of the wealth tax and the continued operation of the Pacte Dutreil.
Oxfam France acknowledges that the lawsuit will take years and cannot directly force legislative change, but hopes to use the case to shift the political debate toward tax justice ahead of the 2027 presidential election. The NGO draws inspiration from previous climate litigation, aiming to put tax justice on the political agenda—a goal summed up in its call to inscrire la justice fiscale à l’agenda politique.
The appeal filed on March 30 2026 highlighted three specific failings cited by the association: the state’s failure to guarantee tax equality, its insufficient fight against tax evasion, and its neglect of evaluating the impact of recent tax reforms. Among those reforms, Oxfam noted the abolition of the wealth tax and the continued operation of the Pacte Dutreil.
The Pacte Dutreil, created in 2003, allows a 75 percent exemption from inheritance tax for the transmission of businesses. Oxfam argues that such provisions contribute to a tax system that lets the wealthiest preserve and grow their fortunes while ordinary citizens bear a heavier relative burden.
Beyond the courtroom, Oxfam France submitted a preliminary demand to the executive branch seeking compensation for the state’s failure to guarantee tax equality and demanding concrete measures to end the situation. The NGO frames its action as part of a broader effort to inscribe tax justice at the heart of public debate, using the legal process to keep the issue alive as the country approaches the 2027 election.
As of late October 2026, the finance bill is under examination in the National Assembly, the administrative appeal awaits the government’s response within its two‑month window, and the legal challenge filed on October 12 and renewed on October 22 continues to move through the courts. Oxfam France, backed by allies like Attac, maintains that the current fiscal policy violates constitutional equality and insists that the debate over who pays what must be resolved before the next presidential contest.