Since 2017 and the advent of Emmanuel Macron’s pro-business policy, the Medef summer school has been more of a health course for members of the government. This big boss meeting, which will be held on August 28 and 29 at the Longchamp racecourse in Paris, should be much more tense this year. Since the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, considered, during the Economic Meetings of Aix-en-Provence, at the beginning of July, a modification of the rate of reduction of the contribution on the added value of companies (CVAE), this production tax, which is supposed to be completely abolished in 2024, is causing a stir in economic circles. At the end of a summer of reflection, for budgetary reasons, the remaining 4 billion of the CVAE will finally be abolished in four years, at the rate of 1 billion per year by 2027, suggested the tenant of Bercy, in trip to Haute-Savoie, Thursday 24 August.
And he tastes little the animosity of the bosses to this idea. “I personally fought in 2018 to lower production taxes in the name of defending our industry. It wasn’t even part of the president’s promises in 2017 and yet we did it! (…) I have only one word”he underlined, recalling having already “ reduced taxes by 14 billion
of production [depuis 2018] “. In his entourage, we get annoyed that “companies are screaming to death because we are changing the trajectory of a tax reduction: we will make these reductions, but at the rate we decide”.
“We are a little confused”
Something to make interested parties jump. “It’s not so much a matter of politics or principle, but of efficiency: these reductions have produced good results in terms of job creation and investment”deplores Patrick Martin, the new boss of the Medef, who met at the end of July Alexis Kohler, the secretary general of the Elysée. “We are a little disconcerted that the State does not know how to find elsewhere a sum which represents 0.4% of public expenditure, thus taking the risk of sending a negative message to companies”we agree with the Medef.
At Bercy, as in the majority, this vehemence is attributed to the recent arrival of Mr. Martin at the head of the employers’ organization and the proximity of the famous summer universities. “Everyone is trying to make themselves heard, but they are not going to declare war on us, it’s a bit overplayed”wants to believe a pillar of the majority.
Another file worries the bosses: the possible questioning of reductions in contributions on wages of more than 2.5 smic, a subject on which the deputies Marc Ferracci (Renaissance, French established outside France) and Jérôme Guedj (Socialist Party, Essonne) must submit a report at the end of September. “It would concern wages which are the heart of the industry”, deplores Alexandre Montay, general delegate of METI, the association of mid-sized companies. This time, the bosses seem to have been heard: the subject should not appear in the 2024 finance bill, assures Bercy.