Fossil fuel tax credits: Bruno Le Maire wants to withdraw them “from 2024”

For him, it is a matter of “permanence”. Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday he wants to “remove a certain amount of fossil fuel tax breaks from the 2024 finance bill” during a green industry roundtable organized by the Renaissance Party. “In terms of public money, I think it’s important to have consistency (…) It means we can’t invest in green and continue to favor brown. This means doing the most difficult thing in politics, making a choice. And when you make a choice, you don’t satisfy everyone,” he said.

“Yes, I believe that a number of fossil fuel tax credits will need to be removed from the 2024 finance bill,” Bossie said. “For everyone it concerns – it can be carriers, construction companies, public works – this means that the facilities are no longer profitable, that companies can lose money. So we have to look at how to support them,” he said.

“And this is where the concept of trajectory, duration and support is absolutely key. Cruelty doesn’t work. It is impossible to say overnight: I am removing such and such assistance. Need a perennial. Support, for example, how we are going to help you, the carriers, invest in less polluting vehicles with electric motors,” he added.

Green ISF, “not the best option”

Bruno Le Maire also reaffirmed the executive’s opposition to the “green ISF” proposed in a recent report by economists Jean Pisani-Ferry and Selma Mahfouz. “When we say the richest 10% of the French, it’s still 10% of the French, it’s several million people. Therefore, we must be very careful not to cause a fiscal allergy to the decarbonization of our economy,” he said.

“No negligence on our part, we are considering all options, including green ISF, we have considered this very carefully, but we believe, with the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, that this option for increasing taxation is not the best in the country with the highest level taxation among all OECD countries,” insisted Bruno Le Maire.

He also spoke out in favor of “the opposite nature of state aid” for investments in favor of decarbonization: “and God knows, I am not a fan of the conditionality of this state aid.”