Is the end of certain tax advantages for sectors that use fossil fuels? This is the wish expressed by Bruno Le Maire on Monday, during a round table devoted to green industry organized by the Renaissance party. “On public money, I think it is essential to have consistency (…) This means that we cannot invest in green and continue to favor brown. It means doing what is most difficult in politics, making choices. And when we make choices, we do not satisfy everyone, ”said the Minister of the Economy.
“Yes, I consider that it will be necessary to withdraw, from the 2024 finance bill, a certain number of tax advantages on fossil fuels”, indicated the boss of Bercy. “For all those concerned – it could be road hauliers, construction companies, public works – it means that construction sites are no longer profitable, that companies can lose money. So we have to look at how to support them, ”he said.
The green ISF not retained
“And this is where the notion of trajectory, duration and support is absolutely key. Brutality doesn’t work. You can’t say overnight: I’m removing such and such help. Multi-annuality is needed. Support, for example how we are going to help you, carriers, to invest in less polluting vehicles, with electric motors, ”he added.
Bruno Le Maire also reaffirmed the opposition of the executive to a “green ISF”, suggested in a recent report by economists Jean Pisani-Ferry and Selma Mahfouz. “When we say 10% of the richest French people, it is still 10% of the French people, it is several million people. So we have to be very careful not to create a fiscal allergy to the decarbonization of our economy,” he said.
“Highest level of taxation of all OECD countries”
“No contempt on our part, we are looking at all the options, including the green ISF, we have looked at that very carefully, but we consider, with the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, that this option of increasing the taxation is not the best in a country which has the highest level of taxation of all OECD countries,” insisted Bruno Le Maire.
He also spoke out in favor of an “opposable nature of State aid” for investments in favor of decarbonization: “And God knows that I am not a fan of the conditionality of this public aid. »