The proposal was strongly criticized by a majority of the political class. “Taxing retirees who have 2,000 euros of retirement is completely scandalous,” said Sébastien Chenu, vice-president of the National Rally (RN), on TF1 morning This Wednesday, January 22, while in an interview granted on the same day on a daily basis Les EchosEric Lombard, the Minister of Economy, clearly excluded the hypothesis of taxation on pensions to contribute to the financing of social protection in the 2025 budget. “The position of the government is unambiguous: no new taxes On households! ” he told the newspaper.
This idea had however been issued by his colleague Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, the Minister of Labor, on Tuesday. She believed that this taxation could concern retirees who receive more than 2,000 or even 2,500 euros per month – which represents between 500 and 1,500 euros more than average retirement, According to Drees figuresthe Department of Studies of the Ministry of Health. 40 % of the wealthiest retirees were thus affected by this measure, for an expected gain from 500 to 800 million euros, according to the Minister of Labor. But how are retirees taxed today? L’Express takes stock.
Income tax
Retirees subject to income tax can benefit from the flat -rate deduction by 10 % for professional costs, which makes it possible to reduce the declared income by 10 %. A proposal to remove this lump sum deduction was submitted by MEDEF, whose president, Patrick Martin, supported the idea On BFMTV-RMC this Thursday by judging “unnatural” the fact “that a retiree benefits from a tax exemption for professional costs”. He also estimated that this abolition would bring in 4.5 billion euros in the state.
In an interview of January 6 for the daily Les EchosGilbert this, the president of the pension orientation council (COR), had also been favorable by indicating that he had “mentioned the track of the abolition of the tax reduction of 10 % on pensions”, which “would be a strong measure, of an annual yield of around 4 billion euros”. Retirees benefit from this 10 % deduction on their income tax since 1978 even when they are no longer active.
Social security contributions
Like assets, retirees are subject to three types of social security contributions. Among them: the generalized social contribution (CSG) and the Contribution for reimbursement of social debt (CRDS), which apply to all activity income, replacement income (retirement pensions, unemployment benefits, etc.), investment and heritage income.
Regarding the CSG, there are four rates, with the possibility of total exemption for the most modest pensions. For the highest pensions, the rate is between 3.8 %and 8.3 %, with a median rate amounting to 6.6 %. As for the CRDS, this is a tax taken at source on most income and intended to contribute to the financing of social security debt. Since its creation in 1996, its universal rate of 0.5 % has not changed.
The third social levy concerning certain retirees is the Solidarity contribution for autonomy (Casa), part of the people in a disability or pre-retirement situation must also pay. This levy is used to finance the loss of autonomy of the elderly and disabled. In retirees, the fixed rate of CASA is 0.3 %.
Exemptions
Some retirement pensions income tax exempt. Among them: the benefits of the old age minimum, the solidarity allowance to the elderly characters and the additional invalidity allowance, the retirement of the combatant, the social housing benefits or the personalized autonomy allowance (APA). The latter being an allowance intended for people aged 60 whose state requires regular monitoring or who need to be assisted for essential acts of everyday life: getting up, dressing, toilet … toilet …
The same goes for social security contributions. Retirees can benefit from a partial or total exemption from the social contributions of the CSG, the CASA and the CRDS according to the reference tax income.