The Weird Way France Is Spying On Its Citizens
The government in France is relying on AI tech to find its citizens' swimming pools. Find how much money was going unreported.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is more than the way of the future. In France, it’s already in use and in an unlikely way. The French government is now using the tech to find swimming pools in private citizens’ backyards. In France, homes are taxed upon rental value. So, theoretically, the more amenities a home has, the more it can get for rent.
Up until now, some French citizens have been getting away with not reporting their swimming pools so they can avoid being taxed. All that is now changing thanks to AI. Gone are the carefree days of not registering your swimming pool in France! The AI-powered software can go through photos taken from above and give an alert when a swimming pool is recognized.
After a swimming pool is determined to indeed be a pool by an actual person (yes, the AI can get things wrong), the government official will cross-check to ensure that the property has a swimming pool on file. If not, France will begin proceedings to reach out to the property owner to collect the necessary taxes.
Water, Water Everywhere …
Some tax-dodging citizens in France were enjoying saving millions in Euros yearly by not paying their swimming pool taxes. In fact, the French government has collected nearly €10 million in additional taxes since putting the AI software to use last October. The issue of unreported swimming pools has only recently become a much bigger deal since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic that shook most of the planet.
Just like much of the world, France forced its citizens into a lockdown, making them spend more time at home. Since then, they have realized that installing a swimming pool would increase the quality of their downtime. And, as Tell Me Best reported earlier in the year, many places are facing a lifeguard shortage leading to fewer public pools being available. However, it seems some French citizens “forgot” to report that new swimming pool.
According to The Verge, “Ownership of private pools has become somewhat contentious in France this year, as the country has suffered from a historic drought that has emptied rivers of water.” However, a National Assembly legislator for the Green Party (Europe Écologie les Verts) in France stopped short of banning new pool construction.
The MP, Julien Bayou, announced on Twitter, “[T]here are ALREADY restrictions on water use, for washing cars and sometimes for filling swimming pools. The challenge is not to ban swimming pools; it is to guarantee our vital water needs.” But how the country of France will guarantee those water needs was still up in the air. Until AI came into the picture, it seems that the ban will not have to go into effect if the country can enforce what it already has in place.
Solar Panel or Pool in France?
AI, as we know, is far from perfect. In fact, the tax office in France, the DGFiP—more commonly known as Le Fisc—had reported a high error rate of 30 percent. Once images are photographed by France’s National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information, the AI starts going to work. However, it does get a bit confused by solar panels, verandas, and other common outside features.
Le Fisc has reassured citizens that error reporting should decline since it has ‘ironed out’ these issues as France plans to expand its AI work to include all metropolitan France. This expansion could result in an additional €40 million in taxes for France. Perhaps this new law could be more beneficial than some others recently put in place and reported in Tell Me Best.
According to The Guardian, if a homeowner in France modifies a property, he or she must report that change to the tax office within 90 days of completion. For example, a typical pool of 30 sq meters would be taxed at about an extra €200 a year. With a surge in pools and other home improvements, the French government will not look the other way resulting in a windfall in unpaid taxes.
