The finance bill (PLF), presented this Wednesday to the Council of Ministers, reveals the concrete tax measures which will apply to households and businesses next year.
Income tax: increased scale
As every year, the income tax scale will be indexed to inflation. Thus, the brackets of the main tax for households will be increased following the forecast change in the consumer price index excluding tobacco for 2023 compared to 2022, i.e. 4.8%. Clearly, households who have not seen their income increase will pay less taxes in 2024. “In the absence of such indexation, the IR return on 2023 income would be increased by around 6, 1 billion euros,” the bill specifies.
Production taxes: elimination by stages
On the business side, the budget provides, as Bruno Le Maire indicated, the reduction of the CVAE by an amount of 1 billion euros in 2024. The rest (3 billion euros) should disappear by the end of the five-year term. The text also concretizes the transposition of the European rule which aims to establish a minimum level of taxation set at 15% for the profits of multinationals established in France. It should apply in 2025 and bring in 1.5 billion euros in 2026.
Removal of tax loopholes
The PLF eliminates 21 “inefficient or obsolete” tax loopholes. Among them, seven correspond to temporary measures put in place during the Covid-19 pandemic and twelve concern measures intended for individuals to promote housing. This is the case, for example, of the famous Pinel system (rental real estate investment), which will end in 2025.
Also readExplosion of property taxes: is it only the fault of mayors, as Macron claims?
Housing: the expanded eco-PTZ
For the moment, the initial text of the budget proposes several adjustments to deal with the housing crisis: refocusing of the PTZ, extension of the eco-PTZ to co-ownerships, exemption from property taxes for rehabilitated social housing… But the most more important on the subject are likely to be amended when the text passes through Parliament. Thus, Bercy declares itself open to integrating into its final text measures such as the change in taxation on the capital gain of second homes or even the reduction of tax advantages for tourist rentals, “Airbnb type”, says Bruno Le Mayor.
Ecology: tax credits for businesses
The text is full of measures around the question of ecological transition. Among the most important for businesses, we can mention the creation of a new “green industry” tax credit and the elimination of the so-called “brown” tax loophole for non-road diesel for farmers and construction professionals. As for measures aimed at households, the text provides that the future “future climate savings plan”, which will be created in the green industry law for young people under 21, be exempt from income tax and social contributions.
Highway and airport tax
Already announced, the new tax on motorway concessionaires and large airports should bring in 600 million euros according to the government. Bercy assures that its mechanism should prevent it from having repercussions on users. “The tax is based on income exceeding 120 million euros in turnover and only concerns companies above a certain profitability threshold,” explains an advisor.
Tax ceiling for telecoms
Operators have obtained a capping of the fixed Ifer tax at 400 million euros, levied on fiber and ADSL networks. This tax, considered antiproductive by operators, who pay more the more they deploy their infrastructures, brought in 381 million euros last year for the State on the fixed part, and 650 million euros counting the moving part. Operators were worried about an explosion in landline bills with the upcoming end of a tax exemption.