It’s not the first-time that socialists in the South of France and various political parties have suggested that superyachts should be a political target and taxed or banned from the French coastline.

France’s wealth tax has a history dating back to the 1990s. Impôt de solidarité sur la fortune (ISF), levied on a range of assets, including jets and yachts, saw a migration of superyachts from the French Riviera to neighbouring ports in Spain, Monaco and Italy, with some ports reporting a loss of up to one third of their business in 2017. As a consequence, officials demanded changes to heavy social and fuel tax burdens to revive the local marine economy, the law was modified in 2018 under Macron and superyachts were welcomed back.

However, French opposition MPs have recently introduced a private member’s bill that would ban superyachts over 50 metres from entering French ports, marinas or territorial waters. There seems to be a war on luxury in France and many other European countries, but this specific targeting of a particular size of yacht is not only misguided, it’s hugely ignorant, as the numbers are relatively small compared to the vast number of yachts that base themselves on the Côte D’Azur.

Yachts have already been threatened with increases in VAT, attacks on duty-free-fuel exemptions, customs inspections and documentation checks and a closer look at the on-board workforce and their employment status while alongside in port for many months of the year. However, this latest proposal and it is only a proposal, sounds like a smash-and-grab attack on the largest yachts, with fines proposed of up to 15 per cent of the vessel’s value if the bill is violated, and a five to 10-year ban of cruising French waters. Naively for the nominees of this bill, what they don’t realise is that every single 50-metre-plus superyacht has countless alternative destinations and could easily boycott France instantly. The impact would be significant across the coast from Marseille to Nice, with hundreds of companies, shipyards, marinas, local businesses and myriad employees all directly affected by the loss of activity and revenue.

If a more intelligent and workable solution was proposed by the regional governments and Paris,
where a nominal annual cruising eco-tax was suggested with clearly defined objectives and purpose,
I am confident that many owners would make this payment to remove any future headaches
and to support local eco-projects and initiatives.

Although an oxymoron, I suggest these left-wing politicians could take a more pragmatic approach and better understand the value and importance of these vast floating, mobile villas. If there is this deep socialist opposition to large yachts and what they represent in society today, the dialogue needs to be more strategic and better informed.

The argument used is that these superyachts dramatically pollute the environment, contributing to climate change while damaging marine eco-systems, and publicly owned port infrastructure is being upgraded for a very small group of wealthy individuals. However, due to Posidonia laws and anchorage restrictions, many of the largest yachts already have to search carefully for a good safe anchorage, plus they are typically the most professionally run and operations are managed very tightly within all legal frameworks. In addition, many of the largest yachts, especially the most recent builds, operate with highly efficient energy and fuel systems that minimise their polluting impact and are perhaps not the biggest problem in the Riviera.

If a more intelligent and workable solution was proposed by the regional governments and Paris, where a nominal annual cruising eco-tax was suggested with clearly defined objectives and purpose, I am confident that many owners would make this payment to remove any future headaches and to support local eco-projects and initiatives. Complete bans and huge fines typically drive traffic in the opposite direction and are purely a mechanism for left-wing politicians to win votes locally, but the local florist, restaurateurs, café owners and taxi companies would soon experience a financial drought and not just a summer heatwave.

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