It is the banal but emblematic story of a tax loophole that the government is struggling to eliminate. The increase in the tariff for non-road diesel (GNR), a polluting fuel mainly used by VSEs and SMEs in the construction industry, which was scheduled for the 1er July 2021, is finally postponed to 1er January 2023, the executive announced on Tuesday, May 25. “The context of the economic crisis weakens all the players” and “It is not opportune to keep this reform until the deadline”, explained officials of the ministries of the economy and ecological transition. The reform of the GNR tax system was to bring in 870 million euros in a full year to the State. This turnaround must be introduced by amendment in the amending finance bill (PLFR), presented on Wednesday, June 2 in the Council of Ministers and which will be debated in the wake of the deputies.
The domestic consumption tax on energy products (TICPE) for GNR was to pass on 1er July from 18.82 to 59.40 euro cents per liter (except for agricultural machinery which has a reduced price), ie an alignment with the taxation of road diesel. It is this tripling which is postponed for eighteen months, and left to the appreciation of the next majority.
Several times postponed
The elimination of this tax advantage of nearly one billion euros used by many construction machinery is in fact a sea serpent of the five-year term. Initially included in the 2019 budget at the end of 2018, the measure, intended to finance Bruno Le Maire’s Pact law for companies, had provoked the ire of the sector. Demonstrations by public works companies had broken out in several regions, from Champagne to Brittany. Become explosive with the storm “yellow vests”, itself born of a massive challenge to a fuel tax, the subject of the GNR niche returns to the viewfinder of the executive in spring 2019, at the end of the great debate national organized by Emmanuel Macron. The idea: to finance part of the 5 billion euros in income tax cuts promised by the government. New rebellion of professionals, who highlight their role as local employer in the territories.
In order to allow time for the sector to organize itself, and while few alternatives for “clean” vehicles are readily available, the 2020 budget therefore fixes the extinction of the advantage in three stages: at 1er July 2020, then in January 2021 and in January 2022. But patatras, new turnaround due to the health crisis. At the end of the first confinement which paralyzed the sector as the main part of the economy, the deputies vote an amendment to remove the reduced tariff in one go, at the 1er July 2021.
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