Gabriel Attal announces measures to double adjustments by 2027

2023-05-30 11:07:43

The Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, May 24, 2023. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP

Three weeks after the tax evasion presented by Gabriel Attal as “a tax on working French people”the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts is now tackling social fraud, which he considers to be “the way to keep control over our social model”. Reinforced staff, control of Vitale cards and retirees abroad… In a interview at Parisianpublished on May 29, Mr. Attal unveils a vast plan to fight against this multifaceted fraud, which includes both evaded social contributions, fraud in health benefits or social allowances. “Fighting against fraud in public finances means strengthening confidence in public speech and power for every French person and guaranteeing that everyone respects the same rules”believes the one who wants to combine the fight against tax, social and customs fraud.

Social fraud is not controlled by the Ministry of Finance but by various social bodies, hence the difficulty in assessing the amounts. Based on figures from the Court of Auditors and the High Council for the Financing of Social Protection, Gabriel Attal estimates the total of social contributions evaded due to undeclared work at 8 billion euros, fraud in social benefits paid by the family allowance funds (family allowances, RSA, activity bonus, housing aid, etc.) to 2.8 billion euros, those to the general scheme pension funds to 200 million, and 3% to 7 % of certain Medicare expenses. The Court of Auditors, for its part, estimates fraud in social benefits alone at between 6 billion and 8 billion euros per year.

See as well : Social fraud: why it is complicated to measure its amount

On the other hand, the amounts recovered remain very low. Bercy hopes to double the number of adjustments by the end of the five-year term. “In 2027, we will have twice as many results as in 2022”, says Mr. Attal. This concerns evaded social contributions, with the objective of increasing them to 1.5 billion euros per year in 2027. In terms of social benefits, the objective is set at 3 billion euros of “harm detected and avoided”and 500 million euros in health benefits by 2024, i.e. a “doubling compared to the average of the previous five-year period”says Bercy.

“Better cross-checking data”

To this end, the staff of the Social Security funds devoted to the fight against fraud must be reinforced by 1,000 positions over the five-year period, while one billion euros will be invested in information systems. “to better cross-check the data”, says Gabriel Attal. To avoid undeclared work, a reform of the collection of social security contributions from micro-entrepreneurs working for platforms such as Uber or Deliveroo should prevent them from under-declaring their turnover – the undeclared amounts would amount to 800 million euros, according to Bercy. From 2026, the latter will be required to declare the turnover of the micro-entrepreneurs they employ to make adjustments more reliable.

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