The announcement by the Prime Minister that the implementation of withholding tax on income as of January 1, as planned, will indeed put an end to the national drama of the past few weeks, will it?
Is there no longer a need to call in the successors of the good Dr. Freud to set things straight for the Gauls of the 21st century?
For the record, all developed countries do it, Germany since 1925 and even Italy, since 1974.
It’s true that at the time the whimsical Di Maio-Salvini weren’t yet born, otherwise, they might have invented the “mandatory flexible” formula their Health Minister colleague used regarding vaccines for school children!
Doubts arose last week when a note from Bercy highlighted numerous errors during tests of the withholding tax.
Beyond the purely technical aspect, the risk creating doubt is psychological.
Next January, the French will discover a paycheck reduced by the withholding of their income tax. Will they then feel that their purchasing power has decreased?
One can imagine that the French know they have to pay taxes. Whether they do it in twelve installments or in lump sums changes nothing; the total will remain the same!
It’s true, some drivers don’t use the bypass for toll payments, explaining that paying each time gives them the impression of spending less compared to the total amount of the monthly bill.
For those who are already on a monthly payment plan, they pay the tax administration the amount due over 10 months. The monthly deduction will now be over 12 months, thus lower,” noted the Prime Minister, who wants to take the French “seriously”.
