PARIS, April 20 (Reuters) - France will slash income tax for those that pay the least in a move that will effectively inject 1.1 billion euros ($1.43 billion) into the economy and help boost consumption, the budget ministry said on Monday.
People falling into the lowest income tax bracket of 5.5 percent would pay two thirds less than they would normally as part of exceptional measures to help the euro zone's second-biggest economy cope with the economic crisis. Those at the lower end of the 14 percent bracket would also fork out less, it said, without giving details.
President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled new measures worth a total 2.65 billion euros in February to help people weather the crisis that included such tax breaks for low income households and extra benefits for the jobless and big families.
The reductions, which were fleshed out by the budget ministry on Monday, would apply to people filling out tax declarations this year for income earned in 2008 and apply to some six million tax-paying households.
"We are injecting 1.1 billion euros to boost purchasing power," Jean-Marc Fenet, tax director from the budget ministry, said on the sidelines of a news conference on tax issues.
The measures are part of the government's efforts to do more to help the most fragile pockets of the population deal with mounting job losses and recession.
In February, French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled new measures worth 2.65 billion euros to help those in need while rejecting union demands for a hike in the minimum legal wage. ($1=.7706 Euro) (Reporting by Tamora Vidaillet; Editing by Ron Askew)