Tough morning for the Minister of Association with the Territories. At the opening of the convention of the Intercommunalités de France (the association that brings together groups of municipalities) on Thursday, October 17 in Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), Catherine Vautrin once again had to face the wrath of local elected officials . The 5 billion euro effort that Michel Barnier’s government asked of them in 2025 is not being executed. Among them, the host of the place, the mayor of Le Havre, Edouard Philippe (Horizons), knew how to win the favor of the attendees by lecturing the minister.
Certainly, the former Prime Minister immediately acknowledged, “no one questions the idea that in a collective effort, which must be contributed by the nation, [les collectivités territoriales] “They have their role to play.”. “I might as well say it.”declared. For the rest, he doesn’t like anything about the government’s decisions.
First, about the method. “I would like to draw your attention to something I experienced when I was Prime Minister.he said, addressing Catherine Vautrin. It is necessary and legitimate that the debate takes place in Parliament; It is useful that it is also carried out with local elected officials. » And this, so that “You can agree on good solutions together. I insist on this point.”. Edouard Philippe is the instigator of the famous “Cahors contracts”: from 2018 to 2020, the State forced local authorities to spend less, under penalty of financial sanctions. The system left very bad memories among elected officials.
“A direct tax”
Basically, “The logic of the tax on operating income is not easy to understand spontaneously”He approached Edouard Philippe. On October 8, the Government presented the details of the savings expected from the communities: 3,000 million euros will be allocated from the budget of the 450 largest communities in the country. “in reserve” in order to “stop local spending” ; the tax on added value (VAT), planned in 2025 to compensate for the local taxes eliminated by Emmanuel Macron, will be retained by the State (1.2 billion euros); Finally, the VAT compensation fund, intended to help communities invest, will be less generous in 2025 (800 million euros of savings for the State).
And this is where the “terrible trap” against which Edouard Philippe warned Mme Vautrin: that all these measures have “as an impact, either to reduce local public investment or to increase local debt”. And he added, “Take it from me that it would be somewhat extravagant if a system designed to help find an answer to public debt overhang resulted in an increase in local public debt.”.
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