tax increases for certain businesses, not for households

What if France adopted a 2025 budget before March? This is the ambition of Amélie de Montchalin, Minister of Public Accounts who, in an interview given this Sunday to our colleagues from Parisiantraffic “a budget different from that which was rejected by the National Assembly”, especially because “around ten billion euros in savings” will be removed. The minister even dares to formulate an ambition: a “deficit at the end of 2025 which does not significantly exceed 5%” and 3% in 2029. In order not to indefinitely extend the special law, which blocks certain recruitments and prevents the opening of places in nursing homes, the government will not, however, start from scratch and some main lines of the Barnier project will be maintained to gain additional time.

Which ones? The Macronist says she wants to keep the tax on share buybacks, that on plane tickets, as well as “the additional contribution on large companies. In October, Michel Barnier detailed the latter on the France 2 news by presenting it as “a temporary exceptional effort requested from the largest companies with a turnover of more than 1 billion euros”, or approximately “300 companies”. This system, limited to one or two years, should, if adopted, take the form of surcharges on corporate tax.

Fight against tax overoptimization

Households can reassure themselves. There will be no new taxes or increases that would penalize their “purchasing power” car «France is the country which collects the most in Europe », recalled Amélie de Montchalin before affirming her wish to “actively fight against tax over-optimization and fraud systems”. To journalists from Parisian who replied that the first is not illegal, she replied: “We must amend the legislation because it is sometimes abusively circumvented by certain taxpayers».

This Monday, the minister will receive with Éric Lombard, Minister of the Economy, the different political forces in Bercy. She warns them: “Let's be clear: this budget will neither be that of the right, nor that of the left, nor that of the center. It will not be the ideal budget of a party, but that of the country.