2023-10-11 20:42:11
“I was scandalized and appalled by his comments. » The interview with the President of the Republic on 8 p.m. on TF1 and France 2 on Sunday, September 24, was “the spark that ignited the powder” for Philippe Guiguen, mayor (DVD) of Clayes-sous-Bois ( Yvelines). “Mr Macron is an intelligent man who is supposed to master all the workings of the French tax system. But when he says that the increase in property taxes is not the fault of the government but of the municipalities, that is false,” says the representative of this town of 17,000 inhabitants.
A rant made this Wednesday on the occasion of the University of Mayors of Western Paris (Umop) which was held in Port-Marly (Yvelines). And Philippe Guiguen gives a very concrete example. If in 2012, the overall operating grant (DGF) at the municipal level was 3.2 million euros, it will only represent 300,000 euros in 2023.
“For twelve years, we managed with the team not to increase taxes but today that is no longer possible,” he warns. And to recall that “communities mainly have two resources: the property tax and the DGF”.
The increase in property taxes, “the only solution”
Before resolving to increase taxes on his territory, the elected official first demonstrated rationalization in his services, even going so far as to eliminate 10 positions at town hall. Not enough. “Today, the only solution I have left is to increase the property tax,” he regrets.
A “totally aberrant” choice according to him, but which follows the government’s decision to abolish the housing tax. A boomerang effect observed in many communities in France. “We have no other choice but to activate this single lever on the owners who are, let us remember, ordinary people and not rich or billionaires,” laments the mayor of Les Clayes.
The councilor wishes to clarify that he “only commits his opinion on the question”: Plaisir, Maurepas, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, Voisins-le-Bretonneux… The other mayors of the agglomeration of Saint-Quentin- en-Yvelines did not hesitate to give him their support by “joining him on the terms”, they explain.
“When I see the position taken by a large number of mayors in France, I tell myself that it cannot continue like this. There is growing discontent on the subject, estimates the community councilor of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, who sent a letter to Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday. The ideal would be to review all existing tax mechanisms. »
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