Budget: childcare, taxation of SMEs ... These amendments that the government wants to retain

Elisabeth Borne confirmed it during an interview on TF1 on Sunday: the use of 49.3 to pass the 2023 budget seems inevitable. It will "probably" be used on Wednesday, according to Olivier Véran, spokesperson for the executive. However, despite the strong challenges to its bill, the government could retain some amendments tabled by the opposition - with the exception of the requests from the National Rally (RN) and La France Insoumise (LFI). This Monday in Matignon, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne invited a handful of ministers and majority officials (Horizons, MoDem, Renaissance) to review the amendments that will be kept in the version of the budget rewritten by the executive. .

The Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, in favor of the idea of ​​keeping certain amendments - despite the opposition of members of the majority -, notably mentioned his support for that of the deputy Valérie Rabault (PS), aiming to extend the VAT rate at 5.5% on masks for an additional year. The minister also indicated that he "looked kindly" at the proposal of Marc Le Fur, LR deputy for Côtes-d'Armor, to increase the value of restaurant tickets to 13 euros. Currently, the value of these giving right to the maximum exemption from the employer's share, that is to say 5.92 euros, must be between 9.87 and 11.84 euros.

In addition, the government has already endorsed the Assembly when adopting cross-party amendments. He intends to keep the increase in the tax credit ceiling for childcare costs for children under six years old, to 3,500 euros per dependent child, against 2,300 euros today. The text is carried by the deputy Renaissance Mathieu Lefèvre.

Another strong signal sent to the MoDem and the Republicans: the government wants to support the reduction in taxation of small businesses. This is to increase the ceiling on profits subject to the reduced corporate tax rate of 15%. "For small SMEs, the level of taxes must be lowered further, because they are faced with the energy crisis, they can no longer pay their energy bill", underlined the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire on BFMTV. .

The executive has also made it known that it wishes to support an amendment by the majority deputies to remove a tax advantage enjoyed by private jets for their fuel (reduced excise rate). Today, the tax on these non-commercial business jets is 42.13 euros. The deputies wish to increase it to 76.82 euros "(...) so that "everyone can participate in the effort" of the fight against climate change, indicated Jean-Marc Zulesi, elected representative of Bouches-du-Rhône, to the origin of this idea. "It's a rebalancing", estimated Clément Beaune, the Minister Delegate in charge of Transport, Friday on LCI. "The paradox is that private jets are today less taxed than the car for example , but also the passenger planes of small flying clubs. This tax justice that I supported and that the majority seems to be proposing, I think that would be a good thing,” he added.

Insufficient, however, to convince environmentalists. MP EELV Éva Sas is calling for "much more ambitious proposals", such as an "eco-contribution" from the air sector, taking up a recommendation from the Citizen's Climate Convention. Among the proposals fished out is also the restoration of the additional half tax share for widows and widowers of veterans "regardless of the age of death of their husband", a measure in particular carried by the Communist Party.

If the executive is preparing to make compromises, it is not for all that to let go of ballast on certain subjects. The government does not intend to retain the MoDem amendment adopted in session last week, with the support of the left, the RN and some Renaissance voices, for a taxation of "super dividends" from large companies.

Bruno Le Maire said he found the measure "deeply unfair". "This only applies to French companies, as always and not to foreign companies. This means that the French investor will have more interest in buying Amazon shares, because they will be taxed at 30%, than shares of Danone or a French group because they will be taxed at 35%", argued the minister in particular. Same opposition from the government about the restoration of the "exit tax", against the tax exile of entrepreneurs, supported by a coalition of oppositions.

"If you look at the amendments voted, it's nearly 8 billion euros in additional spending that has been adopted since the start of the week," noted the Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal on Sunday. Despite the specter of a recourse to 49.3, the debates are not yet over. More than 2,000 amendments remain to be examined, out of the more than 3,400 tabled.