Budget: Government delays “cost sharing”

In the end, there will be no question of “cost sharing” during the Senate budget debate, which opens on Thursday, November 17. At least not on the seats of the presidential party. The presentation of an amendment to the 2023 Finance Bill (PLF) on this subject, which until a few days ago was held by Emmanuel Macron’s desire to create an “employee dividend”, the head of state’s campaign promise. , finally abandoned.

However, MEP Pascal Canfin, who is responsible for relations with the government in the Renaissance party, received a mandate on the topic of “super dividends”. He worked on the mechanism of “supremacy”. It is likely to make it possible to distribute more to employees in companies with exceptional profits. One way to respond to demands for better value sharing without crossing the government’s red line: Tax businesses more.

Politically heated topic

It was considered without objection from Bersi. “At this stage, social partners are discussing. We will see after their suggestions », Clean the cabinet from Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, referring to talks on “value sharing in companies” that opened last week under the auspices of Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt.

In the context of rising inflation and increasing wage demands, the topic remains politically combustible. It is often compared to the “super profits” made by multinational companies due to the crisis. During the first reading of the PLF in the National Assembly, an amendment by the leader of the MoDem deputies, Jean-Paul Maté, proposing to increase the taxation of “super dividends”, was voted down by 19 Renaissance deputies, before. Seized 49.3.

At the initiative of Mr. Mattei, and despite the government’s dismissal, a “reformed” version of the amendment – the threshold was raised so that it would not affect medium-sized companies (ETIs), but including holding companies – was finally introduced in the Senate. Several centrist senators. “I’m going to continue to pursue this topic” says the MP the world.

At Bercy, we prefer to remember that existing mechanisms – such as profit sharing and participation, or the Macron bonus – have already been eased several times, including in the purchasing power law passed this summer. So, today the topic is less relevant to large groups, whose employees already enjoy mandatory participation (from 50 people), than to VSEs-SMEs. In addition, we are convinced that the amendment prepared by Mr. Canfin could not be constitutionally accepted in the PLF: it was considered a “budget rider” because participation is subject to the Labor Code, not the tax statute.