Will the housing tax be reinstated in France? While the examination of the 2025 budget is in full swing in the Assembly, the debate is re-emerging in the public space.
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This is a letter that often arrived in mailboxes in October but which had disappeared since its deletion two years ago. In Francevoices are being raised for the housing tax, a tax that each resident of a municipality paid, to make a comeback. It was in particular the mayors of France who made this proposal known following the request of Michel Barnier to involve French municipalities in the country’s quest for the economy.
The Prime Minister asked for an effort of 5 billion euros from French cities. A blow viewed unfavorably by local elected officials who therefore put this proposal on the table. “ If we have to recreate a tax, this is it », declared the councilor of Meaux in particular Jean-François Copé (LR) at the microphone of LCI mid-October.
“ We must introduce local taxation”
This possible return, in any case, is welcomed by part of the political class who have seized the opportunity. For Insoumis MP David Guiraud for example, it is a big yes, provided that it only targets the 20% of the wealthiest taxpayers. “ We must keep 50% of the proceeds of the old housing tax by only taxing the richest. It is estimated that in this period of crisis they can afford it “, he said. Such a measure would bring in 8 billion euros, according to the amendment tabled by France Insoumise.
And this project is of wider interest to the left. “ We must introduce local taxation which takes into account the income of residents, which was not the case with the housing tax and this generated a large number of injustices », Estimates the socialist Jérôme Guedj.
To a certain extent, the Republican right is not totally against it either. “ It was a tax that created a link between the resident and the municipality. On the other hand, it is a file that cannot be opened lightly with an amendment that would come out like that on a budgetary text », Estimates for her part Véronique Louwagie, LR MP.
“ These achievements must be preserved »
True to their line, the National Rally as well as the Macronists are crying out for tax overbidding. “ It is an extremely unfair tax which weighed on all French people without taking into account their income. », sweeps Jean-René Cazeneuve, deputy Together for the Republic.
For its part, the government has also closed the door to a return of the housing tax, whatever its form, praising a measure which has restored 20 billion euros of purchasing power to the French. “These achievements must be preserved », Estimated at the start of the week the Minister of the Budget, Laurent Saint-Martin.