The Senate, with a right-wing majority, begins this Monday the examination in first reading of the draft amending budget, the second part of the measures to support purchasing power, which will see the question of a taxation of the “super profits” of the large companies reappear groups. .
Continuity of the tariff shield on energy and the fuel discount at 30 cents per liter in September-October and then 10 in November-December, revaluation of the index point for officials… The amending financing bill for 2022 opens 44,000 million euros in loans, including 9.7 to finance the renationalization of 100% of EDF. If the debates in the Senate are expected to be less electric than in the National Assembly, they will have to take place at the same pace, because they are scheduled for only two days, night included.
The return tax on “super profits”
The High Assembly will not escape the debate on the taxation of “super profits”. Slightly rejected by the deputies, it was revived by the huge profits reaped by TotalEnergies, but also by Engie and operators such as CMA CGM. TotalEnergies more than doubled its net profit in the second quarter to $5.7 billion.
The idea of an exceptional contribution in the form of a tax, as applied in Great Britain or Italy, will be carried by the left but also by the center group. Its president, Hervé Marseille, intends to make his “markers” heard, even if that means “diverging” with the LR, the first component of the right-wing senatorial majority. “We have a more social than budgetary vision,” he says. His group will propose the establishment of an exceptional solidarity contribution on super profits at 20%. But even with the support of the entire left, the superimposed should not, except for surprise, be voted on.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire strongly opposed it, arguing that “a tax is not a response to the economic situation in our country.” The Delegate Minister for Trade, Olivia Grégoire, for her part, postponed the question until the end of the year, “if we realize that the companies have not assumed their responsibilities towards the French.” Another expected point of debate, the abolition of the audiovisual license canon. The left opposes it and the centrists demand that it be postponed.
Without questioning it, the general rapporteur for the budget Jean-François Husson (LR) proposes limiting until December 31, 2024 the allocation of a fraction of the VAT product intended to guarantee the financing of public broadcasting, the time of putting in place ” a real reform of the sector”.
Protect communities
The LR group will return to charging for overtime, wanting to perpetuate the rise to 7,500 euros of the tax exemption ceiling, voted by the National Assembly for 2022. The Chamber of Territories will also be willing to push the cursor a little further in support of measures to the communities, also affected by inflation, the general rapporteur wishing for “a safety net”.
In committee, senators again approved an “exceptional allocation of 40 million euros” for food banks. And it replaced the exceptional back-to-school bonus of 100 euros, reserved for social minimums, with an exceptional increase of 150 euros for beneficiaries of the activity bonus. As it is a finance law, the amendments voted in committee must be approved again in the Chamber.
Regarding the price of fuel, Mr. Husson does not intend to go back on the compromise reached by the government with the LR deputies. “We are not going to add confusion to an agreement that is the product of a confrontation,” he declared. The minister wanted to be able to “preserve this commitment”, specifying that with the discounts from the distributors and oil companies, “we can have a price per liter of gasoline or diesel at the beginning of the school year of around 1.50 euros”.
The Senate already voted on Friday night in first reading, after having amended it, the “emergency” bill to support purchasing power approved in the Assembly. Deputies and senators will meet on Monday at the end of the afternoon in a joint joint commission to try to agree on a common version of this first part of the measures, with the Government waiting for a definitive adoption of the two texts no later than August 7. that would allow parliamentarians to go on vacation.
Source: BFM TV
