Posted on September 27, 2022 at 6:15
The great sweep of tax loopholes will not take place. Well, not right away. Bruno Le Maire himself regretted it this Monday when presenting the draft budget for 2023 to the deputies of the Finance Commission. “We can do more, we can do better”, conceded the Minister of Economy. “We have been trying for six years, there is room for maneuver,” he continued. In fact, the text of the finance bill only contemplates the elimination of six “tax expenditures”, of which “five have no longer had a budgetary impact for several years.”
“Continuing with the clarification and simplification of the tax system, the government renews the already regular exercise of eliminating inefficient tax expenditures, by proposing to eliminate six additional tax expenditures. It also proposes a program for the evaluation of certain tax expenditures”, reads the budget document presented this Monday.
tax credit
In the viewer, the reduction of taxes for guardians of unemployed people who create or absorb a business, the reduction of taxes for subscriptions in cash to the capital of an approved artisanal fishing financing company (Sofipeche) or even the distribution system of the short-term capital. profits obtained by maritime fishing companies from the sale of fishing vessels or co-ownership shares in said vessels before December 31, 2010.
Bercy also proposes to end the temporary exemption from corporate tax in favor of companies created in Corsica in the craft, industry, hospitality, construction and public works sectors, and the tax regime at the 10% rate of non-patentable patentable inventions.
Also on the bench, the tax credit for master restorers, which benefited 610 companies and weighed 2 million euros in the 2020 budget.
covered
On Monday, during the Bercy ministers’ hearing, Eric Coquerel (LFI) criticized the government’s lack of ambition. “Touching inefficient tax loopholes is not up to par, it has nothing to do with what a review of the research tax credit would be,” launched the chairman of the Finance Committee.
The tax credit for research (CIR), which is granted to SMEs and multinationals – TotalEnergies revealed that it reached 70 million euros – is the subject of much criticism, despite the fact that it costs more than 6,000 million euros a year. The Court of Auditors itself has raised the idea of a ceiling.
Bruno Le Maire reiterated his opposition to a measure that would undermine this system. “The CIR seems important to me for innovation”, he hammered before the deputies. Although he is in favor of a “greening” of the CIR, a series of obstacles remain to be resolved.
Other ways to eliminate fiscal loopholes will be examined during the debate in Parliament, also recalled Gabriel Attal, Delegate Minister of Public Accounts. The mission entrusted to Daniel Labaronne (Renaissance) raised proposals on certain systems and in particular on zoning.
Bercy’s last attempt to tackle niches, in 2019, had not been very successful. “Experience shows the difficulty of implementing its suppression,” said the Superior Council of Public Finance this summer, in the highly critical opinion issued on the Executive’s budget forecasts.