200,000 new households run the risk of having to pay personal income tax due to the freezing of the scale

The draft budget presented by Sébastien Lecornu provides for the freezing of income tax and CSG scales next year. These are usually reviewed annually for inflation, to take into account rising prices. Specifically, this freeze would amount to increasing taxes on households whose income has increased and converting taxpayers who were not previously subject to taxes.

In detail, 200,000 new tax households could have to pay income tax in 2026, according to estimates by the Ministry of Economy. The executive presents this measure as the “mirror” of the freezing “of all social benefits.”

However, the adjustment should be relatively limited since inflation will be low this year (around 1%). In other words, the income tax and CSG scales would have only increased by around 1% next year.

Additionally, adjustments could be made during the budget discussion to avoid tax cuts for certain households. At the moment, the draft budget communicated to the press does not mention it. There is already a discount system to reduce income tax.

It especially benefits couples who earn around the minimum wage, so currently half of tax households do not pay this tax. With this freeze, the government hopes to raise an additional 1.9 billion euros through income tax and 300 million through the CSG, which finances social security and unemployment insurance.

6.5 billion euros of total revenue

The executive plans other tax increases. There Differential contribution on high incomes (CDHR)Imagined as temporary, it will be extended for one year. It sets a minimum tax rate of 20% for households whose income exceeds 250,000 euros for a single person and 500,000 euros for a couple, and is added to an exceptional contribution from high incomes (CEHR). The text also provides for the establishment of a tax on asset holding companiessometimes used to evade taxes.

In total, the Government anticipates that this “additional effort by taxpayers with greater means” would bring in 6.5 billion euros. Most of the budget effort, estimated at €30 billion in 2026, is based on public spending.