The PS and the Government found points of agreement this Monday, September 27 in the Assembly on the surtax on business profits, and seem to be making progress in the search for a global budget agreement, although there are still obstacles to overcome in terms of asset taxation or suspension of the pension reform.
Taking from the state budget project, the deputies debated at length in the chamber the surcharge on business profits. During the discussions, the government presented an amendment increasing the tax yield from 4 to 6 billion euros, placing the burden of the increase on the largest companies.
Much to the dismay of the deputies of the Ciottista UDR group, and even some elected representatives of LR and Renaissance macronists who demanded the pure and simple elimination of the measure.
“It is not reassuring for the future”
Manuel Bompard (LFI) denounced an agreement reached “in parallel rooms” between the Government and the PS, although his group voted in favor of the measure. “We are committed to ensuring that the government listens to the debates in the Assembly,” responded the Minister of Economy and Finance, Roland Lescure.
Before the press, the head of the socialist deputies, Boris Vallaud, was cautious about the disunity of the government side. “There is no central bloc or common base. This is not reassuring for the future,” he said.
The “continuation” will include this week’s examination of the Zucman tax for minimal taxation on assets, or a lighter version proposed by the Socialists, who hope the government camp will help its adoption.
Olivier Faure, head of the PS, raised on Sunday the specter of a new dissolution if the Government does not give in in the coming days in favor of a tax on great wealth.
Meanwhile, deputies voted on Monday afternoon in favor of the accelerated reduction and elimination of the contribution to corporate value added (CVAE), a production tax denounced by both the government and the far right. The cost is 1,300 million.
At the center of the debate, pensions
At the end of the morning, PS deputy Jérôme Guedj cautiously welcomed the “weak signals” with a view to a global agreement, following the adoption in the Social Affairs Committee of his amendment increasing the CSG on property and capital income, on the first day of examination of the Social Security budget.
An adoption with the abstention of the Macronists, who are however waiting for guarantees to support the measure in the hemicycle starting on November 4, where parliamentarians will start from the initial copy of the Government. The commission also voted against the government’s proposed freeze of the scale used to calculate CSG fees, insisting on indexing it to inflation.
Another government measure rejected by the committee: the creation of a business contribution on meal and holiday vouchers. The emblematic measure of the Social Security budget will continue to be the suspension of the pension reform, a condition for the non-censorship of the PS.
It will only be formally examined at the end of the debates, but MPs have taken a step forward, largely rejecting in committee the possibility of imposing a surcharge on mutual companies to finance it.
Left-wing groups, the National Rally and even Les Républicains, members of the government coalition, removed the article, all arguing that patients would ultimately foot the bill. The bill suspends the progression towards age 64 until January 2028, as well as the increase in the number of quarters to leave at full rate.
The right opposes this and will propose abolishing this suspension. If the Assembly suspends it, the Senate (controlled by the right and centrists) will reinstate the reform, its president Gérard Larcher warned.
Sébastien Lecornu received on Monday the leaders of the right-wing and centrist groups in the Senate, irritated by the concessions made to the socialists. “I have no dealings with the socialists,” he assured them according to several participants, telling them that he “understood” that the Senate also had “its own lines” on the budget.
The cost of suspending the pension reform is estimated at 100 million euros in 2026 and 1.4 billion euros in 2027. The ways to finance it are controversial, while the Social Security budget project is of exceptional financial rigor, with massive savings to reduce the deficit to 17.5 billion in 2026 (23 billion in 2025).
Source: BFM TV
