French Socialists Raise Taxes to Fight Deficit PARIS - France's new Socialist government announced on Wednesday billions of euros in tax increases and new taxes, to be borne by businesses and the wealthy, in a revision of the 2012 budget designed to meet promised deficit targets in a period of nearly stagnant growth. The government needs to make up a gap of 6 billion to 10 billion euros, or $7.5 billion to $12.5 billion, this year to bring the budget deficit down to 4.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to the national audit office, the Cour des Comptes. To meet a 3 percent target in 2013, an additional $41.2 billion in tax revenue and spending cuts will have to be found, the auditors said. For this year alone, the government announced about $9 billion in higher taxes, with about $7.6 billion more to come next year. A freeze on government spending is expected to save $1.8 billion. "We face an extremely difficult financial and economic situation," the finance minister, Pierre Moscovici, said at a news conference. The wealthiest households, the big companies, will be asked to contribute. In 2012 and 2013, the effort will be particularly big. But Mr. Moscovici and the government have emphasized that they intend to meet their deficit targets and bring down France's debt to keep the confidence of the markets and Paris's promises to its partners in the European Union. Among the main new taxes is a special surcharge on the assets of individuals with more than $1.62 million of global wealth, which is expected to bring in $2.87 billion; the tax is expected to be made permanent next year, when there will also be a new tax bracket of 75 percent on incomes of more than $1.25 million a year. The government said 73 percent of the tax increases on families would fall on those with the most wealth; individuals are expected to pay 53 percent of France's taxes this year. There will also be a one-time tax on oil stocks, which is expected to raise $688 million and will hit refineries and gasoline stations, which supposedly have benefited from higher oil prices. About $1.13 billion is to come from ending a tax exemption for overtime income, a major effort by former President Nicolas Sarkozy to raise take-home pay, and there will be a new tax on dividends and stock options. But the government canceled a rise in the general consumption tax that Mr. Sarkozy had planned. The figures are based on assumptions that the economy will grow by 0.3 percent this year, 1.2 percent in 2013 and then by 2 percent each year after that, which some economists find overly optimistic. The auditors urged the government to cut spending more than raise taxes, because the latter hurts economic growth, but the prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, insisted that the key to growth was investment, not austerity. Still, spending cuts would seem to be inevitable to meet the 2013 target. For its 2013-15 budget, the government said it would reduce operating costs. It promises to balance the budget by 2017. France's government accounts for 56.6 percent of gross domestic product, one of the highest in the euro zone. It is projected to fall to only 56.2 percent this year and decline slowly after that. Companies have complained that already thin profit margins are being hit and that France is losing competitiveness in a global market. The auditors said the same, and urged structural changes to better calibrate social welfare benefits to deal with France's aging population and reduce the debt. With total debt at nearly 90 percent of gross domestic product, France must borrow about $225 billion this year, the French Treasury said. So far, France has been treated kindly by the markets. France's 10-year bond yield was 2.5 percent on Wednesday, less than half the 6.4 percent yield on Spanish bonds. If that should change, the budget will be in trouble. Jérôme Cahuzac, the budget minister, said the revised budget was more just. "After the democratic correction," he said, referring to the election of President François Hollande, a Socialist, it was necessary to have "a budget correction."