Bis repeated. On the third day of the budget debates in the National Assembly, the oppositions continued their full attack on the symbols of Macronist economic policy. After a very turbulent night on Tuesday evening on the programming law, and the vote on Wednesday just before midnight on a MoDem amendment providing for a surcharge ” temporary “ at 35% of « superdividendes » et “super stock buybacks”it is another fiscal symbol of Macron’s first five-year term that the deputies brought down, Thursday, October 13 in the morning.
The exit tax, which had been largely planed in 2019 by the majority, was restored by 155 votes for and 133 against, by an LR amendment, already adopted in the Finance Committee last week, and also voted by Nupes and the National Rally (RN). “To be liberal is to know how to regulate (…). The subject is the fight against tax evasion,” defended the deputy (Les Républicains, LR) Véronique Louwagie, conceding all the same that “it is not insignificant to end up on the same proposals as [le président La France insoumise de la commission des finances] Eric Coquerel ».
“Once again, the government is largely in the minority”, congratulated the person concerned shortly after on Twitter. Set up in 2011, at the end of Sarkozy’s five-year term, then increased under François Hollande, the exit tax targeted taxpayers holding more than 800,000 euros in securities (stocks, bonds) or half of the capital of a company, and who would have been tempted by tax exile to sell their assets without having to pay capital gains tax. In the event of departure abroad, these persons could be taxed retroactively, within fifteen years following their expatriation – on the basis of a declaration made upon their departure – in the event of the effective sale of the securities. This duration had been reduced to two years by Emmanuel Macron in 2019, under the attractiveness of the country.
As for the yield of the exit tax, it has been the subject of several quarrels over figures, the debts being only potential, and only materializing in the event of the sale of the assets by the persons concerned. The tax brought in the state 138 million euros between 2012 and 2017, said Bercy four years ago, when the council of compulsory levies estimated the revenue at 800 million for the year 2016 alone.
Another major amendment torn against the opinion of the government and the general rapporteur: at the end of the afternoon, after a long debate, the oppositions – Nupes, LR, RN, as well as the Renaissance deputy Stella Dupont – voted three amendments initiated by Christine Pirès-Beaune (Socialist Party) and transforming the current tax reduction (reserved for taxable persons) for people in nursing homes into a tax credit (accessible to all). An evolution to 675 million euros. “It will be difficult for the government to refuse a subject like this”, estimated Mme Pirès-Beaune at the exit of the Hemicycle.
You have 36.45% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.