The candidate president proposed it at the turn of a sentence and it is the turn of his entourage to clarify his idea. Emmanuel Macron undertook, on Monday March 7, if he is re-elected, to abolish the audiovisual license fee.
“We will remove the taxes that remain, the royalty is part of it”, he said during an exchange with 200 inhabitants of Poissy (Yvelines), for his first public outing as a presidential candidate. According to the Head of State, this deletion is “consistent with the abolition of the housing tax”one of the key measures of his campaign in 2017.
Since 2009, the contribution to public broadcasting has been payable by anyone who is subject to housing tax and who owns a television. Its amount is determined by Parliament and currently stands at 138 euros in mainland France. This fee is used to finance public sector television and radio channels, such as France Télévisions, Radio France, Arte or France Médias Monde (France 24, RFI, etc.).
“A budget voted for five years”
Several members of the majority wanted to reassure, Tuesday, March 8, by specifying the announcement of the day before, like the government spokesman, Gabriel Attal, guest of France Inter. He ruled out the endangerment of the financing of public broadcasting and its independence. “What we are proposing to eliminate is not the financing, it is the tool, that is to say the royalty, that is to say to make 28 million French people pay 138 euros, regardless of their income, did he argue.
“We need strong public broadcasting in a context of disinformation, in a context where the digital giants circulate information that is not always sourced, we need public broadcasting because it also participates in French creation »pleaded Mr. Attal.
“We will continue to finance it, to guarantee its means, to guarantee its independence, to guarantee it visibility in the long term”, he added. Gabriel Attal evoked the track of“a budget voted for five years”of which “we can’t deviate”.
On September 23, 2021, Valérie Pécresse, the candidate of the Republicans, had said that she was thinking about the abolition of the fee and that the question was not “not a taboo”. Asked by The worldher entourage let it be known on Tuesday that she is also in favor of it and that it is now recorded.
The far-right candidates Marine Le Pen (National Rally) and Eric Zemmour (Reconquest!) also want to abolish the audiovisual license fee. In detail, M.me Le Pen wants to privatize the audiovisual public service, with the exception of overseas editorial offices, Arte and the National Audiovisual Institute (INA). As for the former columnist, he proposes to privatize the main public broadcasting channels. He nevertheless intends to maintain Franceinfo, as well as France Médias Monde and TV5 Monde. “to carry the voice of France” internationally.
“An archaic tax”
For Mr. Castaner, the boss of the deputies La République en Marche, “there is a huge difference” with proposals from Marine Le Pen and Eric Zemmour: “Both want to abolish the audiovisual public service. The President of the Republic is very attached to the audiovisual public service. On the other hand, the television license fee is a tax today which is unfair, it is an archaic tax.he argued on France 2.
“We are making a commitment, that of preserving the audiovisual public service”added Mr. Castaner, specifying that the “3.9 billion will be taken from the state budget” and “returned to the French, to purchasing power”.
“As for the housing tax, we will compensate for the shortfall from the abolition of the TV license fee”added Olivier Dussopt, the minister in charge of public accounts, invited by South RadioTuesday morning. “We will continue to finance and guarantee the financing of public broadcasting, at the same level”he assured.
Revenues from the fee currently represent 3.2 billion euros, said Mr. Dussopt. Corn “some households, especially those with the lowest incomes, do not pay it: it represents 600 million [d’euros] exemption, which the State compensates for the public audiovisual sector”, said the Minister of Public Accounts – hence the nearly 4 billion euros annually put forward by Mr. Castaner. With these 600 million, “public broadcasting already comes under a budget allocation” of the State, estimated Mr. Dussopt.
Mr Macron presented the measure amid a series of proposals to support purchasing power, such as tripling the “Macron bonus”, without social security contributions or taxes. This tax-free premium that he has introduced since 2020, “we will triple it”because “That’s purchasing power”he said. “Work must pay more”he hammered during this exchange during which he was also questioned several times about the war in Ukraine.