CFE, the acronym has been on everyone’s lips for about two weeks. As expected, the question of the land contribution of companies was raised at the Puy-en-Velay municipal council on Tuesday evening. The community is not at the origin of the sudden increase in this tax, collected by the urban community, voted at the end of 2023 and which traders and traders had to pay last Monday. artisans.
Around ten of them were present at the opening of the council meeting to protest, with dignity, against the elected officials, in particular the first of them. The mayor, Michel Chapuis, now wears double hats. The Ponot councilor became president of the agglomeration. At the time of voting for the increase in the CFE scales, he was still only vice-president of the Agglo. Today he is showing contrition towards a measure that he describes as “bullshit”. The protesters, respectful, a little withdrawn and silent, carried a poster on which we read “Anger… From French entrepreneurs”. At their head, Hacene Djerdi, president of the Office of Commerce and Crafts, expressed his “concern” about the exponential increase in the CFE, personally more than 174%, going from 540 to 1,870 euros. “Incomprehensible” and “unsustainable” increase for some.
Consequence: employees who were promised bonuses, what will they get? These same employees who will have the impression of working for nothing. The tax equity invoked between companies in relation to land and their turnover is a false argument in the eyes of Hacene Djerdi, arguing that entrepreneurs work enormously to not even make a minimum wage.
“Traders today earn 5 euros an hour! »
And what about the end of the CVAE (Contribution on business added value)? “It is still there, I paid for it this year, we will owe it until 2027,” assures the spokesperson for traders and craftsmen. And the latter cites the difficult economic context, marked by inflation, “an increase in energy costs which is slowly killing us”.
Of course, for Hacene Djerdi, everything is not negative. The “Euros ponots” are working well, professionals receive aid. But this question torments tax-paying professionals: how were community councilors able to vote as one, unanimously? The President of the Office drove the point home and held his elected “friends” accountable:
It is you, local and everyday elected officials, who voted. And among you are former traders. We felt not betrayed, but forgotten. The measure does not come from Paris or Europe!
Forced to respond, Laurent Johanny said he “resume” his vote, claiming to have been “deceived” by “false arguments”. Without trying to “clear his name”, he placed the measure in an unstable national context. Even her voice, still in opposition, from Catherine Granier-Chevassus, explaining “not having realized” the margin of increase that this represented.
It is too late to turn the tide, Michel Chapuis agreed: we will have to wait until the end of 2025 to vote again. “We hit too hard with false reasons,” agreed the mayor of Puy and president of the Agglo who will have to face the institutional partners again tomorrow, to debate the problem. “For some it will be too late,” said an employee timidly, expecting to lose her job.
The small group of traders withdrew just as discreetly as they had come, perhaps meditating on the fable of the earthen pot and the iron pot.
Philippe Suc
