CVAE, research tax credit… Shock proposals from impact companies for the green industry law

2023-04-27 16:10:00

The timeline on the green industry bill is accelerating. After three months of heated debates on pensions, the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, detailed her particularly busy roadmap for the coming months. Among the priorities mentioned is the presentation of the green industry bill to the Council of Ministers in mid-May. The text will then be debated in parliament during the summer.

Full employment, wages, green industry… Borne details its extensive reform program

A subject that has been taken up by the impact business movement. AT a few days of the last arbitrations, he has just revealed, in a confidential note consulted by the Tribune, an arsenal of explosive proposals in the ruling circles. The goal: “develop ecological and social competitiveness”, says Caroline Neyron, general manager of the Impact France movement, who would judge ” Shame “ what ” the green industry bill [soit] presented without real incentives ». “If we don’t encourage big companies today, they will go straight into the wall in 2050”, she insists.

As a reminder, this bill aims “to strengthen the attractiveness of France for the establishment of major decarbonization technologies”, emphasizes Matignon. The impact business movement, bringing together companies such as L’Occitane in Provence or 1083 in Isère, has called on economists, researchers and think tanks such as Shift project, committed to the decarbonization of the economy, to present these thirty proposals.

Condition the reduction of production taxes

The first concerns the business value added contribution (CVAE). The government is committed to continuing its supply policy by lowering production taxes initiated during Macron’s first five-year term. The abolition of the second tranche of the CVAE should therefore take place this year. In total, “the effort would be 9 billion euros over two years”, specify the services of the Prime Minister. On this sensitive subject, the impact business movement proposes “reserve the abolition of the second tranche of the CVAE for companies engaged in a systemic transformation of their model”.

This proposal is likely to revive the debates on the effectiveness of the reduction in taxation and the conditionality of aid. ” The first installment was granted without transparency or commitment measures. The CVAE must be eco-conditioned like other public aid”, emphasizes Caroline Neyron. These conditions can “concern, for example, the publication on ecological and social commitments in an impactscore”, continues the spokesperson. Among the proposed indicators, the publication of the carbon footprint of companies and inclusive jobs might be part of the criteria. She considers that “Taxation must regain its role of general interest. These are avoided costs for society”. The lobby also proposes setting up a tax credit for the purchase of refurbished equipment for VSEs and SMEs.

Greening the research tax credit (CIR)

Still on the tax front, the employers’ movement also proposes to integrate an environmental and social dimension into the criteria for awarding Innovation Tax Credits and Research Tax Credits (CIR). Today, the research tax credit, which represents approximately 6 billion euros, is “focused on technological innovation and less on ecological and social innovation”regrets Caroline Neyron.

She takes the example of associations or infrastructures that fight once morest fuel poverty or food waste. “These associations never receive a euro from the CIR. However, these structures are inventing new practices”, she explains. During their recent speeches, the Minister for the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, and the Minister for Industry, Roland Lescure, nevertheless paved the way for “a greening” of the research tax credit, the preserve of employers’ circles.

Finally, in terms of financing, the pressure group offers an ecological loan guaranteed by the State, like the loan guaranteed by the State (PGE) granted during the pandemic. It would be repayable 10 years following the grant. “Companies absolutely need capital to carry out their economic and social transformation”emphasizes Caroline Neyron.

Is the research tax credit really effective?

Facilitate access to industry jobs and improve the attractiveness of the sector

The long period of tricolor deindustrialization was accompanied by a fall in vocations for industrial trades. For decades, young people shunned the training courses leading to industrial production. To restore the image of these sectors and respond to the lack of labor in the industry, impact companies want to create an initial training and continuing education sector dedicated to green industry professions. “The objective is to have training focused on green industry with theoretical and practical approaches. Today, training courses are far from the transition », says Caroline Neyron. ” We must focus on young people and women and make the sectors attractive “, she concludes. It remains to be seen whether these proposals will hold the attention of Bercy and Matignon.

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