The Senate intends to get its hands on the 2025 budget. Rejected by the National Assembly on Tuesday, the finance bill (PLF) must begin its marathon at the Luxembourg Palace on November 25. While waiting for this deadline, the general budget rapporteur Jean-François Husson (Republican Right) listed the right's proposed amendments to the press during a conference this Wednesday.
“We have entered a state of fiscal emergency. The public finance programming law in the fall of 2024 forecast a public deficit of 3.7% of GDP in 2025. Nine months later, a note from Bercy forecast a deficit of 6.9% of GDP. It’s 100 billion euros,” declared the elected representative of Meurthe-et-Moselle.
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A month after the start of the parliamentary session which turned into chaos in the Assembly, some deputies emerged “annoyed” and “outraged”. The absence of deputies from the government coalition (EPR, MoDem, Horizons, DR) raised questions in the ranks of the left and Liot deputies. But these behaviors are consistent with the Barnier government's strategy of bringing the PLF to the Senate, largely supported by the right.
Cuts in learning, operators and SNU
In detail, the right-wing senator unsurprisingly emphasized the importance of budget cuts, in line with the executive. The rapporteur's focus is primarily on apprenticeship spending. Estimated at 25 billion euros by economist Bruno Coquet in a note revealed by The Tribunesubsidies for apprenticeships have increased sharply since the pandemic. The boost to apprenticeships was notably the subject of expenditure reviews by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) at the beginning of September.
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Seemingly consensual, this proposal could cause a flinch in some people. Among the other proposals mentioned are jobs and the treasury of state operators. On this sensitive point, the government proposed in particular the merger of the High Commission for Planning and France Stratégie. Jean-François Husson also targeted Universal National Service (SNU). “ There is noace readability on the SNU. This adds complexity to National Education » he declared.
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The Senate opposed to the increase in the electricity tax
When presenting the budget in Bercy, the government had planned an increase in electricity taxes of around 3 billion euros. It was intended to come into force from next February. Judging this measure to be unequal, Jean-François Husson expressed his opposition.
“This increase in excise duties on electricity corresponds neither to an objective of social justice nor to that of the necessary energy transition, it would even go against these two imperatives”, he lashed out. On the other hand, the senator is in favor of an increase in gas taxation of around 1 billion euros.
“The imperative of ecological transition cannot be satisfied with taxation on the most carbon-intensive energies that is so much more favorable than that on cleaner energies. A beginning of convergence must be started.”
Strengthen anti-fraud systems
To finance the elimination of the electricity tax, Jean-François Husson suggests strengthening anti-fraud and anti-abuse systems. In the crosshairs of elected officials, appears the research tax credit (CIR), also currently debated by economists and a large number of elected officials. The leading tax niche in France (7 billion euros), the use of this system is increasingly criticized by the Court of Auditors or the general inspectors of finance.
Better control of abuses would bring in 400 million euros according to calculations by the budget rapporteur in the Senate. The senator also mentioned dividend arbitrage fraud – the famous CumCum at the heart of several scandals revealed by the international press. It remains to be seen what the budget review at the Luxembourg Palace at the end of November will yield.
