Posted Oct 5, 2022, 5:37 PMUpdated Oct 5, 2022, 5:52 PM
This is a figure that should hold the attention of supporters of a tax on “super profits”. This year, the tax “expenditure” on maritime carriers, in other words the exemption granted to them, will cost the State 3.8 billion euros.
The amount appears in the budget documents that the government has just published to accompany the finance bill for 2023. The niche “to help the maritime transport sector”, as the document indicates, would thus cost ten times more than the year.
In total, 40 companies benefit from this derogatory tax regime, presented under the label “determination of the taxable result of maritime transport companies according to the tonnage of their ships”. The best known of the beneficiaries is none other than the carrier CMA CGM, which generated colossal profits of 18 billion euros in 2021.
tonnage tax
“Clearly, the 3.8 billion represents the difference between what the shipowners paid and what they would have paid if they were subject to corporation tax instead of a flat tax on tonnage”, explains François Ecalle, founder of the Fipeco site. It is therefore a shortfall for public finances.
During his hearing as part of the flash mission on “superprofits”, the boss of CMA CGM recalled the special European tax regime that applies to his group. “Logistics and port activities are subject to corporation tax of 25%, maritime transport has been subject to tonnage tax since 2003; all of Europe has adopted this regime to face up to Asian competition, Europe wanted to protect its transport companies,” explained Rodolphe Saadé.
In his plea against an exceptional French tax, which would handicap the group in the face of other giants such as the Chinese Cosco, the manager insisted on the fact that the tonnage tax is due “even if we lose money”, which been the case in the past. He thus recalled the chronic under-profitability of the sector over the past ten years.
Most Expensive Niches
“Technically, if we want to tax the significant profits made by CMA CGM during the crisis, we have to review this tax expenditure,” says François Ecalle.
The budget documents also make it possible, as every year, to identify the niches that weigh the most on the public accounts. “The cost of tax expenditures is extremely concentrated. Indeed, twelve expenditures alone represent more than 50% of the total cost of tax expenditures.
The tax credit for the employment of a home-based employee comes first, with 7.9 billion planned for 2023. The research tax credit should cost 7 billion euros this year like the ‘next year. Then comes the application of the 10% rate for improvement, transformation, development and maintenance work, other than energy renovation work (subject to the rate of 5.5%), for 4.5 billion, and the reduction of 10% on the amount of pensions and retirement (4.4 billion). The maritime transport niche finds itself, exceptionally, in sixth place.