Paris (AFP)

Decrease of 5 billion in income tax, continuation of the abolition of the housing tax, winners and losers in the ministries: here are the five lessons of the draft budget 2020, which the National Assembly is about to vote Tuesday at first reading.

5 billion

This budget concretizes the decline in income tax announced by Emmanuel Macron last April to respond to the crisis of "yellow vests". The reduction of 5 billion euros in total will concern 17 million households.

In detail, the tax rate of the first installment of income tax, which affects 12 million households, will be lowered by three points, with an average gain of 350 euros. The five million households in the next tranche will benefit from an average gain of 180 euros.

Housing tax

The abolition of the housing tax continues. 80% of currently taxed households will be totally exempted in 2020. For the remaining 20% ​​of households, the removal will be spread over three years, until 2023.

In total, this will represent 17 billion euros of gain for 24.4 million homes, according to Bercy.

The government assures that it will compensate the "euro close" this suppression for municipalities, very worried. It plans to draw on the share of revenues from the built land tax currently accruing to the departments. These will be paid back a portion of the VAT.

The Assembly has voted a few additional gestures in the face of the growl: 250 million for the departments, and a boost to municipalities with a revaluation rate of 1.009% of the rental values ​​for the calculation of the 2020 housing tax, for those who still pay for it.

Green taxation

The tax credit for the energy renovation of buildings (CITE) will be gradually replaced by a premium reserved for low-income households.

Other "green" measures of the draft budget: a hardening of the motor malus, an increase of the diesel for the road carriers and an increase of "the Chirac tax" on the air tickets.

Palm oil has once again been controversial this year: MPs have initially reinstated the list of biofuels benefiting from a tax advantage, a decision that could have benefited the Total group and its biofuels La Mède near from Marseille. After an outcry, especially among environmentalists, the Assembly backtracked in a second vote.

The government wants to set up a working group with Total to see if it is possible to provide palm oil without impacting deforestation.

Fraud

Through a series of guarantees for the protection of individual freedoms, the National Assembly approved the experimentation planned by the government of data collection on social networks to detect tax fraud.

In September, the National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (CNIL) had reservations about the initial project, arguing that it was "likely to undermine the freedom of opinion and expression" of the people concerned.

The deputies also voted a measure that requires the directors of French companies to be domiciled in France for tax from 250 million euros in turnover, a provision that echoes the case of the former boss of Renault and Nissan Carlos Ghosn.

Winners and losers

The Ministries of the Armed Forces (new weapons programs, space defense, cybersecurity), the Interior (recruitment of 1,400 policemen and 490 gendarmes) and Education (440 positions in the first degree) are rather winners of this budget. .

To finance a government strategy launched in October, child protection benefits from a boost of 30 million euros.

Public broadcasting, with a further decline of 70 million euros, will however have to tighten their belts, as the ministries of public accounts (-1,666 positions) or the Economy and Finance (-306 positions) , as well as the Ministry of Territorial Cohesion, with a significantly reduced budget of more than one billion euros.

Faced with the slump of parliamentarians and the agricultural sector, the government has given up the decline of 45 million euros of the resources of chambers of agriculture, planned intially.

© 2019 AFP