What will happen to the 2026 budget? While the Prime Minister François Bayrou gave his resignation In Emmanuel Macron, this Tuesday, September 9, the Head of State is expected to appoint his successor “In the next few days”. The president cannot afford the luxury of dragging to designate the new tenant of Matignon, his future government before presenting by October 7 the finance bill (PLF) for 2026. A budget which must then be voted in Parliament before the end of the year so that his measures come into force next year. This scenario is anything but certain, since the probability of a renewal of the budget credits of 2025 out of 2026 through a special law – As was the case in 2024 after the censorship of the Barnier government – is not to be ruled out.
At this stage, nothing is certain, whether it is the identity of the future Prime Minister, the composition of his government or the content of the budget for 2026 presented in the fall to elected officials. A finance bill originally marked with Seal of the white yearnamely a freezing of social benefits, retirement pensions and the scale of income tax. And this lack of revaluation would have cost taxpayers dearly.
61 euros less tax for a single person earning 40,000 euros
Will the future government, faced as much as its predecessor with the degradation of public finances, retain the principle of the white year-and therefore the frost of the tax scale? If it is too early to advance on this point, one thing is certain: a decline in the new executive on this measure would be a winner for taxpayers. By upgrading to inflation outside tobacco the tax scalethe tax grid on the revenues of 2025 would indeed be less painful.
Here is the scale with inflation excluding tobacco, 0.9% in 2025, anticipated by INSEE in its last conjuncture note in June 2025:
- 0% up to 11,600 euros
- 11% from 11,600 to 29,579 euros
- 30% from 29,579 to 84,577 euros
- 41% from 84,577 to 181,917 euros
- 45% beyond 181,917 euros
Take the example of a single person receiving annual income of 40,000 euros. Last year, he paid 3,965 euros in income tax. With a gel of the scale, he should have paid the same amount. But with a revaluation of 0.9%, the bill will drop to 3,904 euros, or 61 euros less. For a married couple declaring 65,000 euros in annual income in total, the amount of the tax will drop from 3,906 euros to 3,883 euros (-23 euros).
