At the initiative of centrist parliamentarians, the Senate voted on Friday for a slight increase in taxes on the richest households, a symbolic measure of “fiscal justice” which should nevertheless be swept aside by the government in its draft budget for 2024.
In a hemicycle dominated by the right, this device targeting the most fortunate is rare enough to be highlighted, even if the executive will have every opportunity to withdraw it at the end of the examination of the finance bill thanks to the use of article 49.3. This constitutional weapon allows the government to avoid going through a vote in the National Assembly, where it does not have an absolute majority.
The senators of the centrist group reached a majority to strengthen the progressiveness of the exceptional contribution on high incomes (CEHR), a tax targeting the wealthiest taxpayers, in addition to income tax.
The amendment voted by show of hands against the advice of the government and the Senate Finance Committee provides two new brackets for people with income exceeding 750,000 euros per year. A rate of 5%, compared to 4% currently, would be applied to income between 750,000 and one million euros, then 6% above the annual million.
“It’s a measure of tax justice”
“It is not revolutionary but it allows people receiving very large dividends to participate in the national solidarity effort,” explained centrist Bernard Delcros. “It is a measure of tax justice that seems reasonable to us. »
The centrist group, allied with the Republicans in the senatorial majority, however distinguishes itself from the LR on these tax measures and sometimes manages to achieve alternative majorities with the left.
Two other measures were thus adopted on Friday, aimed at subjecting to income tax the interest paid within the framework of housing savings and the products attached to life insurance contracts, for revenues estimated at nearly a billion euros.
On the second day of the Senate’s examination of the budget for 2024, the upper house also voted for a one-year extension of the “glyphosate” tax credit, intended for farmers who no longer use glyphosate-based herbicides. .