This was to be feared for many taxpayers. In the finance bill (PLF) for 2026presented to the Council of Ministers this Tuesday, October 14, represents a measure which will impact several million tax households. Article 5 of the 2026 budget, devoted to “various eliminations and rationalizations of tax expenditures”, is very bad news for parents of children attending middle school, high school or who are continuing their studies after the baccalaureate.
Indeed, the government intends in particular to put an end to the tax reduction for tuition fees in secondary and higher education. A tax advantage granted to approximately 2.5 million tax households, for each of their children enrolled in secondary or higher education, in the form of a flat-rate income tax reduction: in 2025, this reduction reaches 61 euros for a middle school student, 153 euros for a high school student and 183 euros for a higher education student. Amounts “divided by two when the child is deemed to be equally dependent on both parents”stipulates article 199 quater F which defines the terms of this tax reduction.
A tax reduction concentrated on the wealthiest households
If the executive attacks the tax advantage granted to parents of pupils and students, it is because it belongs to a group of “tax expenditures (…) whose justification or effectiveness are questionable”he argues in the explanatory memorandum of article 5 of the PLF 2026. An observation notably resulting from a report from the Council for Compulsory Deductions (CPO) of October 14, 2024 – the body attached to the Court of Auditors then pointing out that “these tax advantages constitute a good example of ineffective and inefficient expenditure which is not subject to any management in terms of targeting or evaluation” – and who had convinced François Bayrou to register this measure in the draft budget passed on to his successor Sébastien Lecornu at the end of the summer.
For the CPO, which mentions in its report a “significant concentration”the tax reduction mainly benefits the wealthiest taxpayers, the “richest” 30% receiving respectively 66% of the advantage in middle school, 67% in high school and 75% in higher education. Logical, for the institution, since this tax reduction “only benefits taxable households” – this is a reduction and not a tax credit. An argument which, associated with the low amount granted on average (183 euros), justified, according to her, the removal of the tax reduction for tuition fees. Deletion which must still be implemented by the vote on the 2026 budget in Parliament this fall.
