The Trésor public ( en, Public treasury) is the national administration of the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or ...

in France. It is headed by the general directorate of public finances (''Direction générale des finances publiques'') in the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry. The ''Trésor Public'' is responsible for: * the accountancy of the state; * the control and help in the accountancy of public administrations and local governments; * the perception of direct

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or ...

es such as the

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Ta ...

(the computation of those taxes is vested in a separate administration); Until the 2012 reform, the Treasury was headed in each department by the Treasurer-Paymaster General (''Trésorier-Payeur Général''), a high-ranking official. In

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, the function used to be divided into the Paymaster General of the Treasury (''Payeur Général du Trésor''), and the Receiver General of the Finances (''Receveur Général des Finances''). Each

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

had its own Treasurer-Paymaster General, the one for the ''département'' of the ''région'' ''

préfecture In France, a prefecture (french: préfecture) may be: * the ''chef-lieu de département'', the commune in which the administration of a department is located; * the ''chef-lieu de région'', the commune in which the administration of a region is ...

''. However, following the 2012 reform, the system has been greatly simplified, and relevant administrations for taxes ( Direction générale des impôts) and public accounts ( Direction générale de la comptabilité publique) were merged into the general directorate of public finances ( Direction générale de finances publiques). During this process, redundant fiscal and financial functions were consolidated into a single departamental or regional director for public finances (Directeur département ou régional des finances publiques). The Trésor also runs a

certificate authority In cryptography, a certificate authority or certification authority (CA) is an entity that stores, signs, and issues digital certificates. A digital certificate certifies the ownership of a public key by the named subject of the certificate. Thi ...

. In December 2013 it was revealed that it issued fake certificates impersonating

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronic ...

in order to facilitate spying on French government employees via

man-in-the-middle attack In cryptography and computer security, a man-in-the-middle, monster-in-the-middle, machine-in-the-middle, monkey-in-the-middle, meddler-in-the-middle, manipulator-in-the-middle (MITM), person-in-the-middle (PITM) or adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) ...

s. The Trésor public is different from the Direction générale du Trésor (or French Treasury), which is the administration in charge of French State's debt and cash management (through the Agence France Trésor), and contributes to financial sector and economy financing regulation, economic policy and international economic and financial negotiations.William G. Andrews, Stanley Hoffmann - Fifth Republic at Twenty, The 0791494950- 1980 Page 257 As the bureaucratic agent and voice of the minister of finance, its influence and authority rest on the desire and ability of the minister of finance to exercise its power. The Trésor manages the finances of the central government, but that power enables it to manipulate the economy as well. Government departments account for a substantial portion of total investment and the Trésor exerts power over public investment." Moreover, the Trésor is a financial intermediary intervening in the ...

References

External links

Trésor public website
in French
Directorate General of Public Finances website
in French {{DEFAULTSORT:Tresor Public Government of France

See also

References

External links