“Give me good politics, and I will give you good finances. » This adage, lent to Baron Joseph-Dominique Louis, appointed grand financier of our nation five times throughout the 19th century, constitutes an illuminating echo of the decisive political choices that await us in the fall to give France a budget. The Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, has made the restoration of public accounts a priority of his government’s action. He’s right.
This ambition is essential to the protection of our sovereignty, as must be the policies implemented to achieve it. In this regard, budgetary preparation periods are always an opportunity to see a thousand and one proposals flourish which, very often, mix Arlesian and Baroque. These invite us, we deputies, to publicly express two deep convictions which will guide our political choices for the preparation of this budget.
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First, taxes. Since 2017, with President Emmanuel Macron, we have initiated the economic rearmament of France. The opening of more than 200 factories contributed to the creation of 2.5 million jobs, putting an end to the French evil of mass unemployment. Our country has become the most attractive in Europe. We owe these successes in particular to the political voluntarism of the former majority, which massively reduced taxes on households and businesses. But despite this massive and unprecedented tax policy – 60 billion euros in tax cuts in seven years! -, France remains one of the countries with the highest rate of compulsory deductions in the world.
It therefore seems unthinkable to us that after seven years of tax cuts it would be the central bloc alliance that would end up giving up fiscal stability to increase them. Too much tax kills tax. Social justice cannot constitute the pretext for a tax relief: any tax increase would contribute to degrading the rediscovered competitiveness of our country, to breaking the pact of trust established with the French, to scaring away businesses and to condemning any sharing of value.
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Second, budgetary programming laws. For seven years, we have undertaken the sovereign rearmament of France to strengthen the security of the French, improve the effectiveness of the criminal response, reduce illegal immigration and strengthen our military power. Here again, it seems unthinkable to us that it is the alliance of the central bloc which calls into question this clear course defined by the three budgetary programming laws of the Ministries of the Interior, the Armed Forces and Justice. To easy solutions, we prefer battles that are certainly more difficult, but fundamental to sustainably restore public accounts.
Yes, restoring accounts requires above all a reduction in public spending. Since the beginning of the 2000s, this has doubled in our country. Are the French twice as happy? In their respective action pacts presented this summer, the central bloc and the Republican right have made it the mother of battles: the reduction in state spending – through the cult of the performance of our public policies, through the suppression of dozens of Théodule agencies and committees, and thousands of duplicates, by simplifying public action and reducing the number of civil servants by preserving our local public services – and improving the effectiveness of social spending by the continuation and maintenance of profound transformations underway or to come, such as pensions and solidarity at the source.
Yes, the restoration of public accounts requires above all the creation of wealth and full employment. The massive drop in unemployment over the past seven years has brought 40 billion euros into the public accounts. If our employment rate reached that of Germany, France could sustainably close its public deficit. This is the way to finance our social model without undermining the competitiveness of our businesses or penalizing working French people. Let us undertake courageous reforms – notably that of unemployment insurance – to achieve full employment.
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Finally, the restoration of public accounts requires the continuation of our merciless fight against social and tax fraud which still plagues our country – despite the notable progress of recent years – and on which the consent of the French to tax greatly depends.
Because we believe in emancipation through work to complete the economic rearmament of France and because we believe in the virtues of the long term to accomplish its sovereign rearmament, we call on Michel Barnier and his government not to give in to the siren song of those who promise us more taxes and less sovereign spending.
Full list of co-signatories
Aurore Bergé, Yannick Chenevard, Romain Daubié, Jean-Marie Fiévet, Moerani Frébault, Brigitte Klinkert, Daniel Labaronne, Jean Laussucq, Mathieu Lefèvre, Constance Le Grip, Annaïg Le Meur, Marie Lebec, Sylvain Maillard, Denis Masseglia, Nicolas Metzdorf, Laure Miller, Karl Olive, Béatrice Piron, Natalia Pouzyreff, Charles Rodwell, Laëtitia Saint-Paul, Liliana Tanguy, Jean Terlier, Annie Vidal, Corinne Vignon, Eric Woerth, Caroline Yadan.
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