It is now a ritual. Still tanned, sunglasses on their noses, the bosses have an appointment on Monday August 28 and Tuesday August 29 at the Longchamp racecourse for the Meeting of French Entrepreneurs (REF), their big annual meeting. No horse racing on the program, but rather around thirty debates bringing together business leaders, politicians and various and varied experts on the theme “Tomorrow never dies”. With Patrick Martin, successor to Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, elected at the beginning of the summer, as the organization’s new 007.
The big bad of the year? As often, the French taxation, the highest of the OECD countries, after that of Denmark. It must be said that the government is giving marbles to employers. In full preparation of the finance bill (PLF) 2024, Bercy finds itself again in front of a budgetary headache and has decided to reconsider the last reduction in production taxes.
The Contribution on the added value of companies (CVAE) will indeed not be completely abolished next year, as confirmed by the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, during a trip last Thursday to Haute-Savoie. The bosses will have to be satisfied with a gradual disappearance by 2027 of these 4 billion euros which weigh particularly on the industry, that is to say one billion per year… A remake of last year. Already, the government had to adjust its promise and distribute the 8 billion drop in the CVAE in 2023 and 2024.
This new step backwards leaves a bitter taste for French bosses. Production taxes may have already dropped by 10 billion euros during the five-year term, but the pill is difficult to digest when you have gotten used to being cajoled by the government. For Patrick Martin, it is a questioning of “the reliability of the word of the State”. But also a golden opportunity for the new boss of bosses. As soon as he arrives at the head of the organization, he will be able to present himself as a combative president, unlike the “accompanying” Medef so decried by some.
For Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, who will speak this Monday in front of the bosses, and Bruno Le Maire, expected on Tuesday, it is now a question of caressing the bosses in the direction of the hair. Already, the Minister of the Economy has promised a foundation of simplification for VSEs-SMEs, and is trying to bury the track of the abolition of the exemption from charges for salaries between 2.5 and 3.5 smic, on which the deputies Marc Ferracci (Renaissance) and Jérôme Guedj (PS) are working. “The economic literature shows that this exemption has little effect on employment and competitiveness”, pleads the first. Will the government arrive at Longchamp with more proof of love for the bosses?