First the French are being deprived of their private jets, and now their private pools as well. French Transport Minister Clément Beaune wants to regulate flights more, and his compatriots will probably have to pay more for their own swimming pools in the future. With the help of software, the financial administration (DGFIP) has now discovered thousands of unregistered swimming pools. The problem: In France, the amount of property tax depends on the value of the property. And this increases when there is a private swimming pool in the garden. Thanks to the new program, unpaid tax money should be subsequently claimed. Anyone who owns such an illegal pool in the garden must now expect a letter from the tax authorities.
The daily newspaper Le Parisien first reported about it, the DGFIP confirmed the news Twitter. “The measure should be extended to all of France,” it says. So far, the search has only taken place in nine of the 101 departments, such as the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Alpes-Maritimes on the Côte d’Azur. The test run started in October 2021. A total of 20,356 unreported swimming pools have been discovered since then. And these should now bring the French state around ten million euros in additional tax money.
Aerial photos should make hidden pools visible
The software used uses artificial intelligence and was developed by Google together with the French consulting company Capgemini. The program evaluates aerial photographs taken by the French Institute for Geographical Information. “Such AI is trained to recognize very specific objects – in this case structures such as swimming pools,” explains Pierre-Adrien Hanania, Strategic Head of Data and AI at Capgemini.
The “Foncier Innovant” software is designed to help uncover illegal pools.
(Photo: DGFiP)
The project goes by the name “Foncier Innovant”, which means something like “innovative property” in German. As innovative as this software may seem, it is quite buggy. For example, employees of surveying offices have to check the marked plots of land again with the help of Google Earth or Google Street View. An employee of the French tax authority speaks opposite Le Parisien with an error rate of around 30 percent. In some cases, tarpaulins on roofs or blue garden tables were recognized as swimming pools. And these do not necessarily increase the value of a property.
The French authorities are not only concerned with money
The French Ministry of Finance rated “Foncier Innovant” positively. After expanding to the whole country, additional tax revenues of around 40 million euros are expected for 2023.
However, the authorities are not only concerned with money, but also with environmental protection. EU researchers recently announced that the current drought is the worst in 500 years. France is one of the countries in Europe that has been particularly hard hit by the drought. Water use is already restricted in many parts of the country. Julien Bayou, national secretary of the French Greens, therefore does not rule out a ban on new private pools. He, too, has spoken out in favor of a ban on private jets in the past. “It’s a question of justice”, tweeted he.
Those who are not particularly interested in justice and the climate will have to expect a higher tax for their own pool in the garden in the future – or camouflage the pool better and hope that nobody will tell them. So either skip the pool party or invite the entire neighborhood. In Germany, nosy neighbors would probably have reported the pool to the authorities long before any software would have discovered them.