PARIS (Reuters) – The public deficit for the year 2023 should be “significantly above” the objective set by the government at 4.9%, due to the loss of tax revenue last year, declared the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday in an interview with Le Monde.
“Due to the loss of tax revenue in 2023, we will be significantly above 4.9%. These 10 billion [d’économie] are not a blow but an emergency brake,” he told the daily.
In February, the minister announced 10 billion euros in savings on state spending in 2024 and rejected the idea of a tax increase.
“After these 10 billion euros of savings, the second stage could be a amending finance bill in the summer, if necessary. The third will be the 2025 finance bill, in which we will have to find at least 12 billion euros in savings,” he explains again.
Bruno Le Maire also promised to “remove all [formulaires administratifs] Cerfa by 2030”, as part of its simplification plan and in order to “reduce the mental burden on entrepreneurs”.
At the Agricultural Show at the end of February, he announced the opening of simplification work on Cerfa so that the administration takes care of these documents and not the farmers.
“By 2026, 80% of Cerfa will be pre-filled by the administration, as for your tax return. Then, we will delete them permanently.”
The minister must present his savings plan for the year 2024 to the finance committees of the National Assembly and the Senate on Wednesday.
(Written by Kate Entringer, edited by Blandine Hénault)
Copyright © 2024 Thomson Reuters
I have over 8 years of experience working in the news industry. I have worked as a reporter, editor, and now managing editor at 247 News Agency. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations of the news website and overseeing all of the content that is published. I also write a column for the website, covering mostly market news.
