Voting begins in flash flood survey – DW – 06/30/2024

France’s public finances are likely to suffer whichever bloc wins the snap election, according to AFP.

The agency has summarized the spending promises made by each competing bloc, which it says lack detail and often ignore mathematical facts.

far-right national assembly

If the National Rally wins, it wants to cut VAT on energy sales, and partly finance the move, which it plans to start as early as July, by contributing a smaller €2 billion to the EU budget, even though the bloc’s 2021-2027 budget has already been voted on.

The savings will in any case not make up for the loss in public revenue, which the union says will mean a €7 billion drop for the public coffers for the rest of this year and €12 billion in a full year.

However, the party also wants to impose a tax on windfall profits from energy producers and force shipowners to pay regular corporation tax instead of the current tonnage tax.

Other costly future plans include tying pensions to inflation, lowering the retirement age to 60 for people who started working at 20 or earlier, exempting some workers under 30 from income tax, and raising the wages of teachers and nurses.

The RN will also ditch the 2023 retirement age increase to 64 from 62, replacing it with a more progressive system that has yet to be determined.

New Left Popular Front

The New Popular Front says it intends to increase government employee wages by 10 percent, provide free school lunches, supplies and transportation, and increase housing subsidies by 10 percent.

It says it can finance this by imposing a tax on huge profits and reimposing a wealth tax on financial assets, and each of these steps will raise 15 billion euros, according to the bloc.

The group also wants to freeze basic food and energy prices while raising the minimum wage by 14% with subsidies for small businesses that cannot handle the increase.

Other planned costly measures include hiring more teachers and health care workers and providing subsidies for home isolation, which the bloc wants to finance by closing tax loopholes, making income tax much more progressive and allowing families to inherit a maximum of €12 million.

The NLP also wants to scrap the retirement age increase for 2023, and eventually wants it lowered to 60.

In contrast to the National Front, it does not plan to reduce the budget deficit in line with France’s commitments to its EU partners.
And rejects the financial rules of the European Union.

The centrist “Together” coalition.

Macron’s party has said it is committed to reducing the budget deficit to 3% of GDP by 2027, but the possibility of achieving this has been called into question by institutions, from the national auditor to the International Monetary Fund.

The party also pledged to cut electricity bills by 15% from 2025 and link pension increases to inflation increases.

The government also says it will raise public sector wages, without indicating how much.

The party says it will not introduce any wide-ranging tax rises and will increase the amount parents can give to their children tax-free.