MPs want to make the tax on the richest permanent

Narrative Yesterday evening, the Finance Committee of the National Assembly began examining the budget. High incomes, “flat tax”, superdividends… MPs have beefed up budget “revenues”

To go further

While the great budget battle had only just begun, the deputies immediately modified the government’s project significantly, in the direction of greater fiscal justice. The finance committee began its work on Wednesday with the examination of one of the most controversial articles of the budget: article 3 which establishes a minimum tax for the richest. Expected to bring in 2 billion euros in 2025, this provision contained in the 2025 finance bill (PLF) amounts to establishing a minimum tax rate of 20%, and only for three years. It only concerns the wealthiest households, whose tax income exceeds 250,000 euros for singles, widowers, divorced people, and 500,000 euros for couples, who thanks to several tax measures are today able to escape to a large extent. to tax. 62,500 households were a priori concerned, but a study published on the website of the Ministry of the Budget estimates that only 24,300 households would ultimately be liable.

Also read

From the outset, the general rapporteur of the commission, Charles de Courson (Liot group), one of the best connoisseurs of the mysteries of public finances, denounces the overly complex nature of the government system which, in his view, would allow a good number of taxpayers to continue to use “tax benefits or tax credits to reduce the bill”. It therefore offers a simpler and more profitable version. His amendment is supported by the NFP. The Republican right and the Macronist deputies may well oppose it, “ it wouldn’t be serious to make a decision blindly”believes Eric Woerth (Together for the Republic, former Renaissance group), the Courson amendment is still adopted.

With Modem support

At the initiative of the NFP, another, more explosive amendment immediately comes to the table. It aims to remove the temporary nature of the exceptional contribution of the richest (limited in the government text to three years) to make it permanent. “In the budget as it is presented to us, the provisions targeting the working classes are definitive, and those concerning the most well-off are only temporary, this is not acceptable” explains Eric Coquerel, the rebel, president of the finance committee. “A system aimed at greater tax justice cannot be just exceptional, it is nonsense” adds the socialist Philippe Brun. An argument taken up identically by Modem Jean-Paul Mattei. Mathieu Lefèvre (EPR) and Philippe Juvin (the Republican right) try to defend the exceptional nature of the measure. They are hardly convincing. The amendment making the Tax on the richest definitive is adopted. A first (small) victory for the left, thanks to the support of Modem.

The same alliance allows the centrist Jean-Paul Mattei to pass another provision that he has ardently defended for several years: the raising of the « Flat Tax ». After long debates, the deputies increased the rate of the single flat-rate levy (PFU) from 30 to 33%, to “rebalance the participation of capital income in relation to labor income” supports Jean-Paul Mattei. Several measures to combat tax evasion were also adopted in committee. Late in the evening, MPs conclude their first budget review session.

A first pass of arms which took place in a peaceful atmosphere. No shouts or pandemonium as often in the hemicycle. The finance committee has budget specialists who, although often in disagreement, know how to listen to each other and work together. If during this session, the left scored the first point, this in no way means that the provisions adopted last night will survive in the final text. They will still have to be voted on by the entire Assembly, then survive the shuttle with the Senate and a probable 49.3.