By mentioning a tax increase, Michel Barnier makes part of the political class shudder

The Prime Minister is not ruling out raising taxes, Michel Barnier’s entourage confirmed on Tuesday. The opposition is resistant to this.

Michel Barnier is considering raising taxes. While the budget situation is bad, the Prime Minister said he would not be against moving in the direction of a “greater tax justice”, assures his entourage.

After seven years of tax cuts, the new Prime Minister has therefore made some of his interlocutors shudder with a view to forming a government in the name of a stifling budgetary situation… but at the risk of depriving himself of support in his own political family.

A right-wing prime minister who is considering raising taxes: a very bad idea, assures Véronique Louvagie, member of parliament for the Republican Right – ex LR: “Today, we have the highest level of taxes and contributions in Europe. I would like to remind you that these contributions weigh on households and businesses.”

Perceptible embarrassment in the presidential camp: the former Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, now head of the Macronist deputies, asks his successor for clarification of “his political line” particularly on possible tax increases.

Emmanuel Macron had made it one of his trademarks, demanding 50 billion euros in tax cuts since 2017 for businesses (corporate tax, for example, was reduced from 33.3% to 25%) or households (elimination of the housing tax, transformation of the wealth tax or single flat-rate deduction on capital income). But faced with a public deficit that could widen, the new Prime Minister is therefore facing a delicate budgetary equation.

“We have only one vocation, one desire, which is that Michel Barnier’s government can succeed for France. But to succeed we must know which clear line, which red lines we can commit to“, specified on Tuesday September 17 Prisca Thevenot, deputy Together for the Republic of Hauts-de-Seine, invited on franceinfo. On tax increases”There are still questions“, she confides, specifying that “we need clarification“. “There have been discussions, but questions remain unanswered.” on the direction that Prime Minister Michel Barnier will take.

Do you expect Michel Barnier to renounce any tax increases, including for the richest? Prisca Thevenot answers this question by asking another one: “What tax increase are we talking about? Should we come and fight against the rent effects? On that we agree, but when I hear talk of raising additional taxes on the wealthiest. Who are they?” asks the Hauts-de-Seine MP.

“There is already a very high tax burden on all French households, I am not convinced that this is a solution”

Prisca Thévenot, MP for Together for the Republic in Hauts-de-Seine

on franceinfo

On the other hand, she believes “that we can tax super profits“.

The same reluctance is felt by Horizons, Edouard Philippe’s troops. But Laurent Marcangelli, the group’s boss in the Assembly, does not want to hide his face: “We also know that France is in an excessive deficit procedure. We have great difficulty in considering our finance law. We must not enter into a state of mind which would be that of saying: ‘We must not discuss anything’.” Everything is up for discussion, except tax increases for the middle class, says Laurent Marcangelli.

The same goes for the National Rally, warns MP Sébastien Chenu: “We are telling Michel Barnier again that increasing taxation and taxes for French households is a red line.” A red line that must not be crossed, insists Sébastien Chenu, otherwise the National Rally will file a motion of censure.