2023-09-26 11:23:37
Published on September 26, 2023 at 10:37 Updated on September 26, 2023 at 11:23
On the eve of the presentation of the finance bill for 2024, a stone has just landed this Tuesday in the budgetary pond. The report on wealth taxation submitted by the leader of Modem deputies, Jean-Paul Mattei, and his communist colleague Nicolas Sansu contains several sensitive proposals.
The two parliamentarians suggest in particular creating a temporary tax on the wealth of the wealthiest, on a European scale, to finance the ecological transition. They also recommend increasing the “flat tax” on capital income, from 30% to 33%, and advocate an overhaul of the taxation of holding companies or inheritances. Enough to bristle the government, determined to keep its promise not to increase taxes.
Rising inequalities
As a preamble to the report, Nicolas Sansu cites an article (signed Antoine Foucher) recently published in “Les Echos”: “Work no longer pays and inheritance has become the main component of household wealth. Gradually, we have shifted from a society of merit to a society of rentiers. »
The deputies’ report opens with a similar observation. In France, 92% of assets are held by half of the most advantaged households. A third of these assets even belong to the best-endowed 5% of French people. And inequalities in this area are increasing. “If this growth remains moderate compared to other developed countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom,” points out Jean-Paul Mattei, “it must nevertheless lead us to question its reasons and propose solutions.”
MP Modem denies any desire for a “big fiscal evening”, but he is not afraid to put his feet in the dish. Already last year, the same Jean-Paul Mattei had made an amendment on the taxation of “superdividends” – adopted against the advice of the government before being rejected in favor of adoption with article 49.3 of the Constitution of the finance law.
This year, the turbulent centrist will not bring the subject up again. But he intends to continue to assert his tax differences with the executive.
The return of a “green ISF”
“The overall consistency of the capital tax reform applied since 2018 does not prohibit making adjustments or proposing to exceed it,” write the authors of the report. According to them, the abolition of the ISF and the implementation of the single flat tax on capital income would benefit from being reviewed and corrected.
Alongside an increase in the “flat tax”, the most controversial avenue is undoubtedly that of the creation of a new tax on large assets to finance the ecological transition. It is the return of a “green ISF”, as recommended by the report by Jean Pisani-Ferry and Selma Mahfouz last May, and quickly dismissed by the government. “A levy of 5% spread over 30 years, based on the net financial assets of the 10% best endowed (3,000 billion euros), would provide 150 billion euros, or 5 points of GDP,” insist the deputies.
Which, however, adds an important element: this approach should be done at the European level, so as not to create a gap compared to other countries. Which a priori rules out the threat to the executive of an amendment from the PLF 2024. In addition, the government recently said it was open to an international initiative for minimum taxation of the richest, like what was made for businesses. An uncertain and long-term project.
Shocking proposals for real estate
The report also proposes significantly increasing the fees applicable to dividend increases in holding companies. This technical measure aims to tackle the problem of tax degression at the very top of the income scale. This was bluntly highlighted in a study by the Institute of Public Policy (IPP) last June. The researchers pointed out that billionaires are proportionally taxed less, due to the importance of undistributed profits in their income.
Among the 27 proposals in the Mattei-Sansu report, several also target the regime of inheritance transfers. Parliamentarians want to better regulate the Dutreil pact, reduce the differences in tax treatment between children within blended families or even align the taxation of life insurance with that of direct line inheritances.
MEPs also make shocking proposals concerning real estate. They recommend gradually but completely eliminating the tax advantage granted to Airbnb rental companies. They advocate the end of the tax exemption on property capital gains after 30 years – with a notice period. Finally, they want to deduct transfer taxes (the famous “notary fees”) on resale from those paid during a first purchase. While the real estate sector is facing an unprecedented crisis and the State has so far refused to open the budgetary floodgates to support it, the Mattei-Sansu report promises to fuel the debates in the Assembly.
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