The referendum will not take place anytime soon. The Constitutional Council ruled on Tuesday that the Nupes bill to tax the exceptional profits of large companies did not meet “not the constitutional and organic conditions” required to be the subject of a shared initiative referendum (RIP).
The Elders thus cut short the wish of the left alliance (LFI, PS, PCF and EELV) to be able to submit their text to a citizen consultation, presented a month ago and signed by 240 parliamentarians. In the sights of Nupes: large companies with a turnover of more than 750 million euros and profits more than 25% higher than the average of those made between 2017 and 2019. The alliance would then propose to tax from 20% to 33% until the end of 2025.
A text out of frame according to the Sages
The decision rendered on Tuesday puts an end to the hope of a referendum on this measure, without even going to the next stage of the RIP procedure, which would have paved the way for the collection of support. Five million signatures would then have been required to open the possibility of a referendum.
For the Constitutional Council, the proposed text does not correspond to the category of texts that can be the subject of this procedure, under the terms of the Constitution. It “limits itself to increasing the level of existing taxation of the profits of certain companies”, he observes, whereas it should have been “a reform relating to the economic policy of the Nation” to meet the conditions.
Bitterness in the ranks of the Nupes
“We take note with disappointment” of this decision, reacted in the evening Boris Vallaud, leader of the Socialist deputies, who had been at the origin of the initiative, taken up and supported by all the Nupes. “The fight for a measure of tax justice, expected of French women and men, continues in Parliament”, he assured. On the side of the Insoumis, we regret this decision of the Sages. “Between the impediment of the RIP and the 49-3 which deprives us of putting it to the vote, capitalist rent is well protected”said LFI deputy Eric Coquerel.
The taxation of superprofits was announced as one of the hot points of the debates in the Assembly around the finance bill for 2023, during which three motions of censure were presented and then rejected by the deputies. But the government drew the constitutional weapon of 49.3 last week before the deputies could debate it in the hemicycle.
The presidential camp bets on “a temporary solidarity contribution”, limited to one year, producers and distributors of gas, coal and oil. There is also a cap on the income of electricity producers, with a redistribution of outperformance. Measures deemed insufficient by the left, which demands that all economic actors making exceptional profits be targeted, and not only in 2023.