Only a handful of employees would be affected by the total exemption from the overtime tax because they already pay up to 7,500 euros

Will all overtime soon be tax-free? On Saturday, October 25, the National Assembly adopted the total exemption from the overtime tax. This measure was approved by the majority of right-wing deputies and by the majority of Macronists. However, it will only come into force if the 2026 budget is approved. The right, the far right and the majority of Macronists approved an amendment presented by Laurent Wauquiez, on behalf of his group, which eliminates the existing limit of 7,500 euros above which overtime is taxed.

The president of the “Republican Right” group in the National Assembly defended a “signal” sent to “working France”, considering “that it should be the State that saves and that we stop taking from the pockets of the French.” For his part, his colleague Fabien Di Filippo stated that he wanted to respond to the demand of voters who “regret the era of working more to earn more.” This slogan was that of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, which gave rise to the tax exemption for overtime, abolished in 2012 before being reinstated in 2019, with a maximum limit of 5,000 euros raised in 2022.

Employees receive an average of 1,900 euros for overtime

According to economist Olivier Babeau, president of the Sapiens Institute, this measure should only have real consequences for a handful of employees, because overtime is already tax-free up to 7,500 euros from 2022. The Minister of Public Accounts, Amélie de Montchalin, estimates its cost at one billion euros. Furthermore, he stressed that the maximum limit was already “very high” compared to the average of what employees receive for overtime, for those who perform it, that is, 1,900 euros.

The left opposed the measure, which it said would burden public finances and slow job creation. “The first response to worker poverty is to raise wages,” said rebel Aurélien Le Coq. “Mr. Wauquiez is actually imprisoned in the dogmas of the past, a prisoner of a mental prison called Sarkozysm. But this trend of working more to earn more is a scam, it is a tax donation concentrated on a minority of employees,” mocked Benjamín Lucas (Ecologist and Social Group).