France's Hollande says tax cuts will come with higher growth next year

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande promised households would enjoy tax cuts in France next year "whatever happens", thanks to a pick-up in economic growth he insisted would materialise. "There are already tax cuts coming... I want to continue. Economic growth will be stronger in 2016. Therefore there will be tax cuts in 2016 whatever happens," Hollande told reporters during a press trip in the southeast of the country. "The extent of the cut will depend on the growth rate we can achieve in 2016," he said, confirming comments made in an interview with regional newspapers published overnight. The government's current forecast for 2016 growth is 1.5 percent, up from a forecast 1.0 percent this year. French taxpayers, which already paid the third-highest amount of tax in the European Union in 2012 when Hollande took power, have seen taxes rise further during the first years of the Socialist head of state's mandate. This year however, annual income tax statements, that the French receive every August, will include tax cuts for 9 million households, the French treasury has estimated. Other, mostly wealthier households, have seen further increases. Hollande said tax cuts were key to boost investment and growth, which accelerated to a 0.7 percent rate in the first quarter, before sputtering to a halt in the second. "For 2015, the results we had in the first and second quarters allow us to say clearly that growth will be higher than 1 percent," he said. The Socialist head of state, battling low approval ratings and unemployment above 10 percent, has previously said he would not stand for a second term in 2017 unless the jobless rate improves significantly. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Andrew Callus)