The business value added contribution (CVAE) will be “permanently abolished” by the end of 2027, and “the reduction in this tax will continue from 2024”, announced the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, to the occasion of his back-to-school speech to Alex (Haute-Savoie). The CVAE was halved this year and was to be completely abolished in 2024, but the government has chosen to spread its abolition, to reduce its cost to one billion euros per year for public finances.
Officials of Medef (Movement of French companies) and CPME (Confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises) had denounced on Tuesday a possible new spread over time of the abolition of a production tax, following information of the newspaper Les Echos.
The Medef then worried about the “reliability of the word of the State”, explained Patrick Martin, the president of the employers’ organization, to Agence France-Presse, while the abolition of this tax had first been promised for 2023. He also notes that the tax reduction trajectory was already “integrated by companies, primarily by industrial companies” and believes that companies are put “under pressure, including by the State itself , to invest massively, in particular on decarbonization”.
“It takes a lot of effort from business leaders”
Before Mr. Le Maire’s announcement, Jean-Eudes du Mesnil du Buisson, secretary general of the CPME, estimated on BFM-Business that “when a commitment is made and announced, it is imperative that it be respected”. “A lot of effort is being asked of business leaders” and they “wouldn’t understand if we weren’t asking for effort from the public service,” he added.
In an interview with L’Opinion published on Tuesday August 22, MP Jean-René Cazeneuve (Renaissance), general rapporteur for the budget at the National Assembly, wanted to be reassuring for employers, without confirming or denying a staggering of the suppression over four years. “It’s a track considered among others and the arbitrations are not made,” he said.
