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Speaking at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, Macron
repeated he wanted to reform labor laws to give more
decision-making powers to companies and lower corporate tax.
The state should act as an enabler - not a constraint - for
innovators and entrepreneurs, he said.
The French president said he would limit the wealth tax to cover
just property in order to help businesses, and would create a
single levy of 30 percent on capital income so as not to scare
businesses away.
"When an entrepreneur has too much success, he gets stigmatized
and, in general, he gets taxed. This is over!", Macron told a
crowd of start-up founders, investors and students.
"I'm proud of you," he told the audience, drawing applause.
"Everywhere, women and men want to innovate. France is in the
middle of becoming a nation of startups," he said.
France's startup scene has been gaining traction, with
investment by venture capital funds booming and expectations
high for a business-friendly government under Macron, whose
"Republic on the Move" (LREM) party looks set for a landslide
victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections.
Bpifrance, the state investment bank which has in effect become
France's number one venture capital fund, told Reuters this week
that is increasing its investment pot to 1 billion euros ($1.12
billion).
Macron, who during his campaign promised that 10 billion euros
would be invested in innovation, said France needed only to
carry out a technological revolution but to transform society as
a whole, across all business sectors.
"We will drive through these transformation without delay,"
Macron promised. "You do not wait, because your competitors do
not wait."
(Additional reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by Richard
Balmforth)
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