The Mediapart website said that French associations continue to propose a tax exemption for donations allocated to support Israeli soldiers involved in military operations that, according to a United Nations rapporteur, led to “ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza Strip, despite the fact that the Ministry of Economy and Finance clarified last November that this is the case. illegal.

The site indicated - in a report written by Justin Braban - that these calls for donations were in the hundreds at the end of the year and the approach of tax returns, and they are not directed to support the International Organization of Disabled People or the Red Cross, but rather to the Israeli army soldiers engaged in “ethnic cleansing” in the Gaza Strip that is about to take place. It turns into "genocide".

The website explained that donating to associations allows private individuals in France to obtain tax deductions that may reach 66%, which means that any individual can receive, in exchange for a donation of 100 euros, a deduction of 66% of his taxes, and thus he actually pays only 34% of it, which costs the state. Several billion euros annually. (3.7 billion euros in 2018, according to the Court of Accounts).

Although this system is originally a grant from the state - driven by the desire to keep the French collective fabric alive - it sometimes deviates from its goal, according to the site, and associations have offered to exempt donations from taxes to “support” Israeli soldiers since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7/ October 2023.

Media Part: “Libya France” has received 457 thousand euros in donations since October 2023 from the “Allodun” platform alone, and therefore if all donors through “Allodun” receive the reductions promised by the association, the French state will have spent - against its will. - 300 thousand euros to support Israeli soldiers.

Directly to soldiers

One of these associations, the “Libya France” association, led a particularly intense campaign in December calling for fundraising “to support our dear and courageous Hailem,” promising donors “a reduction on their taxes for 2023” on its Facebook page, and emphasizing in its letters to the authorities Its sponsor stated that “100% of their donations will be sent directly to Israeli soldiers.”

Media Part was able to obtain a SERVA form from “Libya France”, issued on January 16, 2023, and the association “certifies in its honor that the donations and payments it receives entitle us to obtain the tax reduction stipulated in Article 200 of the French General Tax Code.” Which is clearly wrong.

It is unlikely that "Libya France" was unaware that its campaign was illegal - according to the site - because the statements of the Ministry of Economy and Finance were widely published in the French press, and because Senator Nathalie Goulet directly questioned the association about its "false advertisements" regarding tax cuts in two letters. By email, she sent them from her professional address in the Senate.

Although the association did not respond to the site’s questions, Media Part concluded that “Libya France” has received 457 thousand euros in donations since October 2023 from the “Allodon” platform alone, and therefore if all donors through “Allodon” receive the discounts As promised by the association, the French state spent - against its will - 300 thousand euros to support Israeli soldiers.

The website saw this as a deviation that raises doubts given the context in the Middle East, where about 25,000 Palestinians were killed and schools, refugee camps and hospitals were destroyed by Israeli soldiers, which the United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese considered “ethnic cleansing” on the verge of “genocide.”

Tax secrecy

The Ministry of Economy and Finance refuses to provide details about the measures taken to punish associations that provide these illegal deductions, and it does not wish to comment on the situation of specific associations such as “Libya France” in the name of “tax secrecy.”

It also refuses to specify the number of tax audits carried out each year on associations in order to verify their compliance with the rules regarding the possibility of tax deductions.

Perhaps this is the root of the problem - as the site sees it - as there is no prior oversight in France on these deductions, and therefore the associations do not need prior approval to be submitted to the donors, despite “the tax administration controls towards the beneficiary associations or donors are few in number, and the fines for failure to Compliance with the ruling is not very deterrent,” according to the Accounting Board.

The website concluded by saying Senator Nathalie Goulet, who tried to change the law on this issue, that the solution may be by “reducing” the minimum that requires the association to return to an auditor or through prior controls that require these associations to obtain approval.

Source: Mediapart + Aljazeera