There were no clatters from the desks but the debate was no less muscular this Monday in the Senate on the subject of the taxation of the superprofits of the oil and transport companies, with the target of the historic profits of TotalEnergies and CMA-CGM. The subject, placed immediately after the general discussion, gave rise to around thirty interventions.
“For the national interest, fiscal stability is priceless”, again pleaded the Minister of Finance, Bruno Le Maire, explaining that “in France, all revolts, revolutions always come from an overtaxation “. The president of the LR group, Bruno Retailleau, for his part castigated the “sweet taste” of such a measure which “only has the appearance of social justice” while the Democrat Philippe Dominati denounced a desire to tax in actually all the profits.
“Political opportunism”
The communist Pierre Laurent then offered to “pay him a subscription to ‘Echos'” so that he could see for himself the surge in certain company results, while the socialist Jean-Luc Fichet , insisted on the “feeling of being left out” of VSEs and SMEs in rural areas faced with the situation of these multinationals.
The centrists, meanwhile, appeared divided. Sylvie Vermeillet defended an amendment to introduce an exceptional contribution, claiming not to propose “to finance the expenses [du paquet pouvoir d’achat] by debt” while Olivier Cadic qualified as “political opportunism” the desire to overtax profits. But in the end, all the amendments were rejected. Of these, six were the subject of a public ballot, the narrowest difference being 22 votes.
Compromise
The mixed parity commission on the bill on purchasing power which met at the start of the evening also reached a compromise after barely more than an hour of discussion. The final text maintains the reduction in employer contributions on overtime worked after 1is October, in companies with more than 20 employees, obtained by LR senators at the Palais du Luxembourg. On the contrary, it restores the lasting nature of the “Macron bonus”, by exempting it from social security contributions but no longer from income tax from 2024, which the Senate had abolished.
In addition, the entire arsenal included in the initial version of the bill by the government in order to put pressure on the branches which do not renegotiate their contractual minima following a revaluation of the SMIC has been reintroduced into the text which will now be submitted to a final vote by the Senate and the Assembly.
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