a tax on motorway concessions and large airports to finance the ecological transition

In the name of the ecological transition, the 2024 budget, presented on Wednesday September 27 by the government, announces a new tax on motorway concessions and large airports. From 2024, the government plans that this targeted tax “on long-distance transport infrastructure” brings in 600 million euros per year to the State. He also believes that this tax could increase the prices of plane tickets but not those of tolls.

Why these two targets? Because it is “polluting transport infrastructures, whether road or air”, explained Wednesday the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, during a press conference held at the end of the council of ministers, where the government’s finance bill was presented. According to Mr. Le Maire, this is the ” best “ financing for investments “extremely high” And “imperatives” necessary in terms of ecological transition.

Small airports spared

But to get there, the government had to show imagination: the Council of State had actually warned, in mid-September, against a tax on “excess profits” of the only motorway concession companies and pointed out a ” high risk “ on a legal level. The government was then considering taxing all companies linked by a concession contract with the State – a scope which includes certain airports.

This is not exactly what the executive ultimately chose: by targeting “long distance transport infrastructure”, the tax should affect Paris airports, which are not under concession, and some of the large French airports such as Nice or Marseille. Conversely, faced with the fears of local authorities and smaller airports, the tax is limited to companies whose operating income exceeds 120 million euros and the average profitability of recent years 10%, according to the bill .

The 2024 budget, however, marks the abandonment of a specific tax on plane tickets, an avenue once mentioned by the Minister for Transport, Clément Beaune. He said to himself “favorable”, at the end of August, to strengthen the current “ecocontribution” on flights to finance investments for the ecological transition.

The final result could be close: the Aéroports de Paris (ADP) group plans to gradually pass on this to airlines from 2024 “around 75%” of the increase in costs linked to this tax, through an increase “over two to three years” royalties. Based on its historical numbers, ADP would have paid out in 2022 “around 100 million euros”, compared to a net profit of 516 million. The bill should be 120 million next year.

Unsurprisingly, a tax criticized by the stakeholders concerned

“This new tax is contradictory with the acceleration desired by all of the ecological transition”because this will lead airports to “slow down their investments”judged the Union of French Airports (UAF), which “reserves the possibility of legal recourse”.

For highways, Vinci, through its president, Pierre Coppey, warned that an increase in taxes meant “inevitably an increase in toll rates”relying on contracts with the State.

The concessions stipulate in fact “that in the event of modification, creation or deletion (…) tax, duty or fee specific to motorway concession companies »the latter are entitled to “compensation measures, particularly tariffs”recalled the Council of State.

“I want to reassure everyone: the taxation of motorway concessionaires will not be reflected in tolls, which are set by contract and validated by the State”declared Mr. Beaune in a message sent to Agence France-Presse, adding: “Everything else is fake news. » “To ensure that we respect the rules, we consulted the Council of State”Mr. Le Maire also argued on Wednesday.

The bill must be examined from Wednesday evening in the hemicycle of the National Assembly.