in the context of pensions, "tax on companies" generally means "increasing the employer part of social charges" (as apposed to the employee part). The French sy

in the context of pensions, "tax on companies" generally means "increasing the employer part of social charges" (as apposed to the employee part). The French system requires that the various social systems operate as separate funds, at equilibrium, and does not foresee paying shortcomings from general revenues such as VAT or income tax. Hence, increasing the employer part of social charges increases the cost of work. Anyway, the direct tax burden on French companies is already quite high. This means that French companies have difficulties competing with foreign companies. Mutatis mutandis they either raise the price to compensate (and so are more expensive) or keep the same price and lose margin (and have therefore lower capacity to invest). Countries can fix tax levels as they want (it's one of few policy areas where European countries have full autonomy) but they can't use tariffs or import taxes to protect their market. We have all agreed to free trade, and the WTO will punish those who do. So in reality, you can't just tax any way you want, unless you want to destroy part of your local economy.