-At a time when the executive promises to look into the issue of single-parent families, the idea of a reform of alimony taxation resurfaces (AFP/Archives/Philippe HUGUEN)
Towards a reform of alimony taxation? At a time when the executive is promising to look into the issue of single-parent families, this idea is resurfacing, notably under the leadership of the left and feminists who have been denouncing for years a “double punishment” for women.
“The current system is patriarchal: we offer a tax loophole to men at the expense of women”, told AFP the socialist deputy Philippe Brun, at the origin of a draft transpartisan bill on single-parent families which provides for a review of this taxation.
Established after a divorce or separation, alimony is a financial contribution paid by one parent to the other to contribute to the costs related to the “maintenance and education of the child” (food , clothing, transportation, housing costs, leisure, canteen, etc.;).
Considered as a transfer of income, this pension is added to the resources of the parent having primary custody of the child – and conversely deducted from the resources of the other parent – for the calculation of income tax. . It is also taken into account in the scales of social benefits (RSA, activity bonus, family benefits and housing assistance).
A “heresy” in the eyes of the left and feminist associations who have been fighting for years for an overhaul of this taxation which, according to them, is at the expense of women, who represent an overwhelming majority – more than 90% – of some 900,000 parents receive child support each year.
“For women who receive alimony, it’s a double punishment,” points out the NGO Oxfam in its “fiscal, fair, green and feminist manifesto” published each year. “They must not only include the amounts received in their taxable income, and therefore pay more taxes, even though it is not their income, but a participation of the ex-spouse intended for the education of their child. But they can also, through this, lose the benefit of certain social benefits.
In a report published in 2021, the High Council for Family, Childhood and Age (HCFEA) identified “inconsistencies” and “breaks in equality” between separated parents resulting from the current tax system. He recommended, among other things, no longer taking into account alimony, whether received or paid, in the scales of social benefits or in taxable income.
– “Disadvantaged mothers” –
A year later, this idea of fiscal overhaul, hitherto supported by the left, appears in the program of Valérie Pécresse (Les Républicains) candidate in the presidential election, then in a bill from the MoDem MP Aude Luquet.
Socialist deputy Philippe Brun at the National Assembly, November 8, 2022 in Paris (AFP/Archives/Thomas SAMSON)
The PPL, which the transpartisan group headed by Philippe Brun intends to submit in the spring, plans to exempt child support from tax for the parent who receives it, within the limit of 4,000 euros per child, with a ceiling of 12,000 euros per year.
The text also recommends no longer taking into account the amount of alimony in the calculation of income giving entitlement to benefits and social assistance.
This last point is crucial, insists university professor of sociology at Sciences Po Paris and specialist in alimony payment systems Emilie Biland-Curinier.
Not taking alimony into account in income tax “would mainly benefit middle and upper class women, it would not change anything in the situation of disadvantaged mothers, who are not taxable”, she notes. from the AFP.
Adding the question of social assistance would therefore make it possible to compensate for this lack, she adds, and to undermine in passing the argument put forward by certain fathers who say to the mother of their child “+I am not going to pay you a alimony otherwise it will reduce your social benefits.”
© 2024 AFP
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