This option, targeted and less costly than the previous aid paid to compensate for the increase in energy, is favoured.
At the pump, prices are skyrocketing. Diesel, SP98 and SP95 are displayed at higher prices than at the start of 2020 before the pandemic, or than in December 2018 at the height of the Yellow Vests crisis. Faced with this surge in fuel prices, Bruno Le Maire suggests that new measures could be taken by the State to help the French pay their fill.
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Among the proposals mentioned, one option clearly emerges. Contacted by Le Figaro, Bercy recognizes that an increase in the mileage package is preferred and already under study. A track that Matignon and especially the Élysée must still validate in the coming days. The decision should be made quickly since the mileage scale is reviewed each year at the beginning of February, whether it is maintained or modified.
Concretely, if the mileage package is increased, the 2.5 million French people who declare real professional expenses in their tax return will be able to declare more fuel costs. With this larger tax deduction, the French people concerned will then pay less tax in compensation for the increase in the full.
Helping those who drive to work
By favoring the increase in the mileage package, Bercy has chosen a very targeted measure and wishes to help as a priority “those who have to take their vehicle to go to work”, as announced by Bruno Le Maire this Monday on Franceinfo. In the minister’s entourage, there is simply talk of a “gesture” and not a large-scale aid like the inflation allowance which cost nearly 3.8 billion euros to the public accounts. Bercy also claims not to have yet quantified the cost of an increase in the mileage package but boasts a reasonable measure from a financial point of view.
“You can’t overspend. Between the energy cheque, the inflation allowance, the gas price freeze and the drop in revenue from the TICFE (domestic tax on final electricity consumption), the State has already spent more than 15 billion euros to contain the rise in energy prices”, points out a collaborator of Bruno Le Maire to justify not resorting to other measures much more costly for the State, such as the reduction in fuel taxes.
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The government is also not planning to ask companies to take more responsibility for the fuel expenses of employees who use their personal vehicle to come to work. A suggestion made by Valérie Pécresse in the fall to limit the gasoline bill of the French. “Companies are already experiencing rising fuel costs. We are not going to increase their burden yet., we retort to Bercy.