2023-08-21 18:34:33
Hugues de Tournemire / Photo credit: MATEUSZ WLODARCZYK / NURPHOTO / NURPHOTO VIA AFP
To recover 2 to 3 billion euros intended to finance the ecological transition, the government is considering taxing motorway concessionaires. A measure which would also make it possible to invest in rail infrastructure, but which should not have an impact on the price of tolls. Enough to reassure motorists?
Anything to do with motorways can prove to be highly inflammable with public opinion, while the purchasing power of the French is still eaten away by inflation. However, the government is considering taxing motorway concessionaires in order to finance the ecological transition and invest in rail infrastructure. A possible tax which might be presented as part of the 2024 budget, but which should not have an impact on the price of tolls.
This is in any case what assured the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune. The latter reaffirmed his desire to preserve the purchasing power of the French while the 4.75% increase in the price of tolls in 2023 is still struggling to pass through associations for the defense of motorists.
“I think they take 1,000 tweezers”
The Minister’s reassuring announcement obviously did not have the desired effect. “We know very well that if a company finds itself more taxed and solicited by the public authorities, users are rarely spared. It is rather from them that we will seek the money. You have seen the reactions following measuring 80 km/h. Everything related to the highway, I think they take 1,000 tweezers upstream so that it does not go into a spin too quickly. We would be much more reassured if it were the motorway companies themselves who spoke on the subject,” said Alexia Legendre, spokesperson for the League of Drivers.
This new tax should be discussed in the debates on the 2024 budget, scheduled for the fall. A budget which might reserve other unpleasant surprises for the French, such as the increase in the deductible on medicines which might double, from 50 cents to one euro.
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