Like all economically developed countries, France has an intricate andelaborate tax system, with a significant number of tax and social securitycontributions. The French legislature conducts its tax policy with variousgoals in mind. Uppermost among these goals are efficiency and equity. Therationales behind each of these aims are quite different and sometimesprove contradictory.To what extent does the French tax system achieve these objectives?Several concepts and situations - aggressive tax planning and taxexemptions for instance - will be analysed through the example ofnumerous taxes, both from a national and an international comparativeperspective. This will help us determine how well tax policies perform interms of efficiency and equity, and make recommendations to optimallysolve the dilemma between the efficiency and equity of the tax burden.Keywords : tax system, efficiency, equity, tax policy, tax