Flat tax: there will ultimately be no increase in the tax rate on investments

While the Finance Committee had given the green light to an increase in the rate of the single flat-rate levy to 33%, the left did not transform the test during the first reading into a public session of the budget for 2025.

This is a failure for the left. The deputies of the New Popular Front did not manage to increase the overall rate of the flat tax, during the examination in public session at the National Assembly, of the first part of the finance bill (PLF) for 2025. A disappointment, especially since the parliamentarians had increased the rate of this levy to 33%, against 30% today, during the study of the text in the Finance Committee. An increase in taxation which would have brought 1.5 billion euros into the state coffers. The debates in the hemicycle of the Palais Bourbon having focused on the initial version of the bill, the left wing therefore did not succeed in transforming the attempt.

As a reminder, the flat tax, also called “single flat rate levy” (PFU), is a single rate tax created in 2018, under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron, with the aim of reducing and simplifying the taxation of savings . It applies to capital income, such as interest, dividends and capital gains on financial investments (life insurance, bank accounts, PEL, etc.). This income is currently subject to an overall rate of 30% (12.8% flat-rate tax and 17.2% social security contributions). The New Popular Front hoped to remove the flat tax, which it considers a gift to the rich, or, at a minimum, increase its overall tax rate.

U-turn by the National Rally on the flat tax

In order to toughen this tax, the deputies defended a series of fallback amendments aimed at increasing more or less sharply the rate of flat income tax (12.8%), failing to eliminate the flat tax. The New Popular Front thus hoped to increase the overall flat tax rate to 40%, which would amount to an increase of 10 points. Or, failing that, at 35%, or 33%. “Today, it is the shareholders who live (…) very well and very generously from the work of others, who not only are stuffed with dividends, but are also taxed less,” raised the rebellious ex-MP François Ruffin.

But why did the left fail in public session when it had succeeded in increasing the flat tax in committee? The answer lies in the change of heart of the National Rally: after being in favor of increasing the overall rate during debates in the Finance Committee last week, the far-right party finally decided to oppose the amendments. defended by the left in public session. “Small carriers, business leaders, (…) felt unfairly affected by this measure,” justified the elected RN of the Somme Jean-Philippe Tanguy.