the Senate opposes the surtax on businesses, weakens the text on asset holding companies and reduces the tax on real estate wealth

The senatorial majority intends to limit the revenue part of the budget for the year 2026, preferring to make savings on expenses. It therefore modifies the text proposed by the government in this sense.

New differences between the National Assembly and the Senate concerning the budget for the year 2026. The upper house postponed, on Saturday November 29, the surtax on the profits of large companies. The day before, the right and center majority in the Senate had also gutted the proposed tax on the financial assets of asset holding companies, proposed by the government to fight against tax optimization. Finally, they adopted an amendment to reduce the real estate wealth tax (IFI).

However, these votes are not final. If the examination of the budget comes to an end in the Senate, these modifications will still have to survive the debates of the joint committee. The final text of the budget must then be adopted for new reading in the National Assembly.

These measures, as adopted by senators, considerably limit the revenue hoped for by the government.

With the renewal in 2026 of the exceptional surcharge on businesses, the government hoped to generate four billion euros in revenue. However, the senatorial majority promises to compensate for this loss of revenue with spending cuts. “It is incomprehensible that the government would choose to tax businesses rather than reduce spending,” thus justified the general budget rapporteur, Jean-François Husson (Les Républicains).

The tax on the financial assets of asset holding companies should only bring in “small hundred million euros” instead of the billion expected by the government, lamented Friday the Minister of Public Accounts, Amélie de Monchalin. If the government measure aimed to impose a 2% tax on only structures with a value greater than 5 million euros (excluding professional goods), the version adopted in the Senate taxes a list of 20% “sumptuary goods”, such as yachts, racehorses, wines or even accommodation made available to the person owning the company. The senators also removed from the scope of the tax jewelry, precious metals, art objects, collectibles or antiques which are exhibited in a place accessible to the public or to employees.

As for the performance of the IFI, it will now be “less than 600 million euros” compared to its current yield, i.e. a little more than two billion euros, declared the minister. Compared to the current IFI, the liability threshold would increase from 1.3 million to 2.57 million euros, “in order not to tax households who have become taxable due to the surge in real estate prices”, justified centrist senator Sylvie Vermeillet in her amendment, adopted Friday evening. The senators also excluded rental investment from the scope of the IFI, preferring to include cash and financial investments (current accounts, savings accounts, monetary funds) and certain miscellaneous goods: precious objects, luxury cars, yachts, planes, as well as digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.