To reduce the public deficit, the executive intends in particular to reduce exemptions from employer contributions, the amount of which has doubled in ten years and is now close to 80 billion euros.
The Minister of the Budget, Laurent Saint-Martin, said he was “ready that only half, 2 billion euros, could be requested from businesses” instead of the 4 billion reduction in reductions in employer contributions initially presented in the budget. And this, “so as not to penalize minimum wage employees” whose employers would then see “the cost of this work increase”, continued the minister on Sunday on LCI.
To reduce the public deficit, the executive intends in particular to reduce exemptions from employer contributions, the amount of which has doubled in ten years and is now close to 80 billion euros. But at the beginning of November, the Minister of Economy and Finance Antoine Armand had already said he wanted to “mitigate” the increase in employer contributions on low wages planned in the 2025 budget, without quantifying this proposal, in exchange for “other efforts” which may relate to working hours.
“We do not work enough to finance our social protection”
“We do not work enough to finance our social protection”, also supported Laurent Saint-Martin on Sunday, declaring himself “favorable” to the Senate's proposal of 7 hours of additional work per year without remuneration requested from workers to finance Security social.
On Saturday, the president of Medef Patrick Martin denounced in the columns of Le Parisien a “recessive budget” and advocated the establishment of a “social VAT”, warning that with the planned tax increases, French companies risked less hire and eliminate positions. “If we combine the 4 billion euros in reductions in charges, the 2.5 billion euros transferred from health insurance to complementary health insurance – and, therefore, to businesses -, the 1.5 billion euros in savings on learning aid, that's an increase of 8 billion euros in labor costs, which corresponds to the average gross annual salaries of 300,000 employees,” he argued.
Questioned by LCI journalists about the “social VAT” proposal, Laurent Saint-Martin refused: “If you increase social VAT, you hit everyone, all consumers,” he declared. . The Senate must examine the Social Security budget from Monday in session, before the State budget the following week.
