A recent report from the Court of Auditors proposes to eliminate a tax reduction, to which almost all citizens are entitled and which does not require any formality.
Taxation is currently at the center of media attention, with the examination of the Finance Bill for 2025 in the National Assembly. And in this context, the proposals formulated by the Council for compulsory deductions, a body of the Court of Auditors, could cause a lot of noise and generate some heated debates.
In a report published mid-October 2024 and soberly titled “ Enhancing the equality of citizens regarding income taxation », the institution draws up a detailed portrait of several tax reduction and credit schemes. For some, such as the tax credit for employing an employee at home, the Council simply proposes reducing their scale.
For others, however, the institution is in favor of pure and simple suppression. This is the case of tax reduction for tuition feesa system that is nevertheless egalitarian and very easy to access. This reduction is in fact open to all parents, without income conditions, for each dependent child continuing their studies, from middle school to higher education.
To benefit from it, nothing could be simpler. It is enough to indicate the number of children concerned in one of the 7Ex boxes of section 2042 RICI of your tax returnand no proof is required. The amounts are certainly not astonishing, but can constitute a big boost for the middle and lower classes: €61 per child in middle school, €153 per child in high school and €183 per student in higher education.
So why is this system in the crosshairs of the Court of Auditors? The institution puts forward three arguments to call into question the merits of this tax reduction: its amount would be too low and purely symbolic, because it has not been subject to any revaluation since 1993; since it is a reduction and not a tax credit, it would not benefit the most modest households, who are often not taxable; and although it is very easy to access, it would be largely underutilized by eligible families.
However, these arguments seem a bit weak and can backfire like a glove. Indeed, if the amount of the reduction is considered too low to adequately help families, then it would be enough to index it to inflation and revalue it every year. Same thing for the massive non-use of this reduction which, as the report underlines, is most certainly the effect ” [d’]poor knowledge of the system”, which could therefore be resolved through better communication with taxpayers.
Finally, the argument according to which this tax reduction would only benefit the wealthiest taxable households is somewhat fallacious. A couple with two children becomes taxable from €33,882 per year, according to the 2024 income tax scale, i.e. a monthly salary of €1,411 per person. Of course, you have to exceed this amount to take full advantage of the tuition fee reduction, but this threshold is still reached from the 3rdth income decile, according to 2022 data from INSEE.
Which represents at least between 70 and 80% of French tax households. It’s hard to claim that such a large part of the population is part of the wealthiest families. Furthermore, for a couple with two children, the income ceiling not to be exceeded to benefit from the Back to School Allowance (ARS) is… €33,404, almost the famous tax threshold. Thus, the tax reduction for tuition fees is a system which could particularly benefit the taxable middle classes, provided that the State effectively communicates its existence to the public concerned.