Budget 2027: Isolated, a Macronist MP defends the capping of the tax allowance for retirees

The battle over the 2027 budget has begun. The first round actually opened on Wednesday. Members of the Assembly Finance Committee have launched debates lasting at least three days on the “revenue” part of the draft state budget. The deputies will, however, return to the hemicycle the initial copy, which aims to reduce the public deficit to 5% of GDP in 2027 as Sébastien Lecornu reaffirmed in a speech from Matignon on Wednesday evening

From the outset, the executive suffered a setback. MEPs rejected one of the key proposals in the text on the tax reduction enjoyed by retirees. And as LCP notes, Guillaume Kasbarian found himself very isolated in defending the government's position. This Macronist was one of the rare voices to defend the planer move.

Debates in the middle of the race towards the Élysée

This article aims to lower the ceiling of the 10% income tax reduction enjoyed by retirees to 3,000 euros (compared to 4,439 euros today). Which would represent a gain of 1.4 billion euros. The measure should make it possible, by combining it with a deindexation of certain pensions to inflation in the Social Security budget, to put retirees to contribution.

But the first sign of the government's difficulty in having its proposals accepted as the 2027 presidential election looms: LFI, RN, and government camp deputies voted to remove the measure, considered too harsh. Member of Ensemble pour la République, former minister Guillaume Kasbarian, criticized his colleagues for “a wind of primary electoralism towards retirees”. “You are amplifying the generational divide, requiring efforts from absolutely everyone, except always retirees. […] This is not responsible towards workers and younger generations. “, he insisted.

A risk of censorship

On the other hand, another article announced by Sébastien Lecornu to encourage family donations, by raising the ceiling for amounts exempt from taxation from 31,865 to 50,000 euros, was approved and even extended over time.

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On whom should the efforts be placed? The question therefore promises to be central in the budgetary debates. In the absence of a majority, the government is walking on a tightrope with a risk of censorship to defend some 45 billion in new savings efforts.