This is the last great parliamentary marathon before the presidential election: the 2022 finance bill (PLF) arrives, Monday, October 11, at the National Assembly. It is a somewhat particular text that Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy and Finance, and Olivier Dussopt, his counterpart in the public accounts, had to present to the deputies.
First, because it does not include any major fiscal or budgetary measure, other than the end of the trajectory of corporate tax cuts, reduced to 25% next year (at a cost of 2 , 9 billion in 2022), and the continuation of that of the housing tax (2.8 billion). Then because it still lacks two particularly expected components: the France 2030 plan, which the Head of State must present on Tuesday, October 12 (around 4 billion euros for 2022), and the “commitment income” . This last device, the name of which should evolve further, initially supposed to provide 18 to 25 year olds with support towards employment while providing them with financial assistance (estimated cost between 1 and 2 billion euros), is in the process of being used. ‘to be revised downwards. So much so that the executive no longer gives a precise date for its presentation. “The device was imagined several months ago. Since then, with the economic recovery and the fall in unemployment, there are no longer the same needs ”, we argue in the cabinet of Olivier Dussopt.
An additional manna
Growth in gross domestic product for this year should also be revised upwards given the economic upturn. Tax revenues should be boosted, while the text already provides for 19.6 billion euros more revenue in the State coffers compared to the estimates of the last amending budget, in July 2021. Amounts that Bercy categorically refuses to qualify as a jackpot but which should, in detail, represent up to 8 billion euros in additional corporate tax, 4.1 billion in VAT and 1.6 billion in income taxes .
This additional windfall is timely to finance the multiple expenses presented by Emmanuel Macron since the summer: extension until mid-2022 of bonuses for the hiring of an apprentice, energy check, extension of 500 million for Beauveau security… or even the few measures in favor of the self-employed (facilitation of the transfer of businesses, acquisition and resumption of business assets) included in the bill. The government is also counting on 8 billion euros of emergency measures already budgeted, but which will not have been spent in 2021 due to the gradual return to economic normalcy after the health crisis, as well as on nearly 1 billion euros. ‘euros of credits redeployed since the recovery plan launched in 2020. “We cannot guarantee the increase in operating expenses by savings made on crisis systems. We perpetuate expenses that were not supposed to last ”, regrets Eric Woerth, the president (Les Républicains) of the finance committee of the National Assembly.
You have 22.74% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.