Nothing like that to go talk with the best of the class to get some good ideas. On Tuesday, French Budget Minister Francois Baroin went to Berlin to meet Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister, but Otto Fricke, a spokesman on budgetary matters of the FDP, the party with which the CDU and CSU have formed a coalition. Up for discussion: the prospects for public finances, the convergence of tax systems and the EU budget.
"A very good news for France"
To say that the budgetary comparison is not in favor of France. So that France should post a deficit in 2010 of 8% of GDP, Germany could be below the 4.5% forecast until now. The German public finances are benefiting from the strong economic recovery.For now, the government of Angela Merkel sticks to hard line: any additional revenue related to growth must not be redistributed as tax cuts, but must be used to reduce the deficit. "There is a consensus in German society about deficit reduction, welcomed Baroin.
One way to be disappointed that this is not the case in France, while the government has decided to be as strict on the surplus revenue? In any case, Baroin wished to emphasize that the dynamism of Germany "is also a very good news for France, because it is our first partner." But no question of imitating unrestrained economic model Germanic."We, we focused our policy on power purchase them on the productivity gains through wage moderation," said the Minister.
Despite their differences, both countries are working to converge their taxes. The site was launched in July by Nicolas Sarkozy, Wolfgang Schäuble when was attending a Council of Ministers in Paris. By late September, the Court of Auditors will issue a preliminary report on the subject. His conclusions will inspire action that will be incorporated when considering the draft budget law to Parliament.
Fight together against the tax leakage
Regarding the tax system, harmonization would be quite happy for the French since Germany has removed the ISF. "But we must see if it is relevant," temperate Baroin.Indeed, both governments are working primarily on other taxes: the ecological tax, VAT and corporation tax (IS). Paris and Berlin in particular want to fight together against the flight tax that allows the development of the Internet. The major manufacturing groups chose to localize their headquarters in a country of the Old Continent as low tax Ireland and arrange to channel all their European business.
In addition, French and German governments want to raise, at European level, the project to harmonize the basis of calculation of corporate tax (IS). Today, each country has different rules for determining taxable income, which confuses the issue.
Finally, Paris and Berlin will work hand in hand for the European budget does not slip.The Brussels Commission initially proposed that the budget of the European Union increased 4.9%. The European Council has succeeded in getting the increase is limited to 2.9%. To meet this objective, Baroin account in addition to the support of London.
- The budget deficit reduced to below 92 billion in 2011
- Paris and Berlin are the front for the tax credit
- Niches planed 12.5 billion in 2010
- Markets suspended to meet Sarkozy-Merkel
- The Greek government also revised its forecast deficit