The draft “special law” to ensure the continuity of the State from January, in the absence of a 2025 budget, was presented this Wednesday to the Council of Ministers.
La France insoumise and the National Rally want to amend it to add indexation to inflation of the income tax scale, but the government assures that this is impossible.
Jurists are neither conclusive nor in agreement among themselves on this matter.
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Information scrutinized by Auditors
Ensure the continuity of the State, authorize the government to raise taxes and spend credits on the basis of the budget for the current year. This is what the special law examined on Monday December 16 in the National Assembly and then two days later in the Senate will allow, due to the lack of a 2025 budget adopted on time due to government censorship. But the 2025 finance bill provided for indexation to inflation of the income tax scale in order to avoid increases for taxpayers next year, which is therefore not contained in the special law.
In order to remedy this and preserve the purchasing power of the French, political groups want to amend the special law to add this provision, but the government assures that this is impossible. TF1info takes stock.
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“We will request and table an amendment to ensure that the reindexation of the income tax scale is included in this special law”assured the national coordinator of La France insoumise Manuel Bompard this Wednesday on France info. “I will look to try to make this amendment”confirmed on TF1 the rebellious MP and president of the Finance Committee Éric Coquerel. The National Rally also indicated that it was possible to amend the special bill. False, replies the government.
The Minister of Budget and Public Accounts Laurent Saint-Martin declared to the press after the Council of Ministers that this was not possible, referring “in the very clear and precise opinion of the Council of State”dating from December 9. “There cannot be new tax provisions. It is on this, in accordance with the Constitution and the organic law relating to finance laws, I refer you to the opinion of the Council of State which was very clear in the matter concerning impossibilities”added the minister.
What does the Council of State say?
What does the notice in question say? “The Council of State considers that the new fiscal measures, which cannot, in any event, be considered as necessary measures to ensure the continuity of national life, do not fall within the scope of the special law “lit (new window). It indicates that “the inflation of the income tax scale” cannot be part of the provisions “having their place in special law since they constitute modifications affecting the rules for determining existing taxes and thus exceed the authorization to continue to collect these taxes”.
Upon reading the latter, the Insoumis believe that everything is a question of interpretation. “When the Council of State says that this must make it possible to lift existing taxes, we can legitimately consider that reindexing the income tax scale means guaranteeing the same tax scope and therefore remaining within the framework existing taxes”explained Manuel Bompard. “For the rest, the Council of State gives an opinion, consultative, not binding. There are on several occasions governments which have not followed the advice of the Councils of State and there, there is unanimity of all political groups to ask that this special law be able to reindex the income tax scale.”
What do lawyers think?
What do the lawyers say about it? The legal-checking site Les Surligneurs (new window) considers that the opinion of the Council of State, by ruling out the possibility of modifying the income tax scale, formulates “a questionable teleological interpretation (of its purpose, editor’s note) of the organic law relating to finance laws (LOLF)”. According to the author of the article Sacha Sydoryk, lecturer in public law at the University of Picardie Jules Verne, it is possible to have several readings, making it possible to amend or not the article authorizing the levy of existing taxes .
The response from constitutional expert Anne-Charlène Bezzina is more clear-cut. According to her, the opinion of the Council of State is the right one and it would be surprising if Parliament and the government amended this text “given that this is really a situation that is supposed to last a maximum of the month of January”she explains, quoted by Public Senate. The specialist sees this special law as “a plaster on a wooden leg”considering that“there’s not really any work that can be done on this”.
But as Manuel Bompard points out, the Council of State only has an advisory opinion and the institution that has the last word is the Constitutional Council. Sasha Sydoryk assumes that if amendments to modify the tax scale “were adopted or added by the government, and even if the Constitutional Council were referred to it, it is not certain that it would follow its neighbor at the Palais Royal”.
Will taxes increase at the start of 2025?
In summary, it is currently impossible to be conclusive on the possibility of amending the special law to index the income tax scale, as specialists do not agree among themselves. As for the opinions expressed by the political class, they serve their interests: LFI and the RN want to continue their fight in favor of the purchasing power of the French despite censorship, and the government wants to show “irresponsibility” of his opponents by repeating that the indexation of taxes to inflation had been planned by Michel Barnier in the 2025 budget, which was not voted on because of the New Popular Front and the RN.
What is certain is that taxes will not increase at the start of 2025, whether or not the special law includes a tax amendment. They will increase if the finance bill for 2025 that the government and Parliament will have to draw up next year does not index the tax scale to inflation and nothing has been done in this regard at the time of submission. tax notices next spring.
“We will have to wait for a new finance law, the law of 2025, to allow this to be indexed”confirmed Laurent Saint-Martin. “So if your question is whether there will be 380,000 new taxable households with the special law and an increase in taxes estimated at a little over 17 million euros with the special law, the answer is yes as it is presented today.” On the condition of not changing things in the next finance bill.
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