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Beyond the pension reform, we now know what the 2026 draft budget contains: 30 billion euros in savings, taxation for the highest incomes and the end of the reduction for the wealthiest retirees. A look back at the essential points presented by the executive this Tuesday, October 14.
This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full.
To bail out the state coffersSébastien Lecornu wants to involve the highest income earners. The prize is six and a half billion euros. New measure: tax the financial assets of family holding companies, companies created specifically to pay less taxes. The contribution on the highest incomes will be extended. Each person earning more than 250,000 euros per year, or each couple earning more than 500,000 euros, will be taxed at a minimum of 20%.
Mixed opinions among wealthier households: “Each time, it’s always the same people who pay for the others. There are a lot of them who pay nothing. And 20%, that represents less investment”believes a concerned resident. But a passerby doesn’t have the same opinion: “When you have very high incomes, you have to share. There are so many people who don’t have the means.”
Another government proposal: freeze the income tax scales. Mechanically, households will all pay a little more taxes, only the most modest would be spared. Same mechanism for retirement pensions. No revaluation next year, except for the most modest. And, in addition, a key reform: the flat rate reduction of 10% is removed for retirees, replaced by a flat rate of 2,000 euros. This measure would penalize the wealthiest, but would reduce the taxation of the smallest pensions.
This is the case of this retiree: “For me, it will benefit me. Because I have a small pension, thanks to my husband, who did not declare me for 15 years at the restaurant, so I have a small pension. So I try to get everything I can”she comments.
On the social security side, the government wants to double medical deductibles. Medicines would be less well reimbursed. For example, for certain medications, the remainder payable by the patient would increase from 50 cents to 1 euro and the annual ceiling from 50 to 100 euros. With this budget, Sébastien Lecornu forecasts a deficit of 5% next year.“It’s still not glorious. All the other European countries manage to achieve a deficit of around 3%, even some countries have a surplus”estimates Stéphanie Villers, economist and economic advisor PwC.
In total, the measures proposed by the government could generate 14 billion euros in revenue.
