State revenue in 2021 was nearly 20 billion euros higher than what the government anticipated in October, Minister of Public Accounts Olivier Dussopt said on Wednesday.
“
Growth remains better than we had anticipated and State revenues exceed the forecasts of the amending finance law of October by nearly 20 billion,
” the minister told the daily
Les Échos
.
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In detail, households paid the State coffers 1.6 billion more than expected in income taxes and a single flat tax on capital income (“
flat tax
”), while VAT generated 3.6 billion more than expected.
But it is above all the corporate income tax which represented the most significant gain, with 10 billion euros in unanticipated cash inflows.
The public deficit finally “
close to 7%
”
The additional revenue should make it possible to contain the level of public debt for 2021 - which INSEE will calculate at the end of March - within a range of between 113% and 115% of gross domestic product (GDP), against 115.3% forecast, a clarified Olivier Dussopt, recalling that the public deficit would ultimately be “
close to 7%
”, against 8.2% anticipated in October.
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For 2022, the Minister indicated that the aid "
announced at the beginning of the month to support the Omicron wave represents a cost of 150 million to 250 million per month in the current health situation
", much less than "
what has been committed at worst of the crisis
”.
And if the State had planned to allocate 2 billion in unused credits last year in support of businesses this year, "
it turns out that these unused credits are even greater than expected
", namely 3.8 billion, "
which should be more than enough
", estimated Olivier Dussopt.
On the health level, on the other hand, the provision of 5 billion euros made for the year 2022 “
for vaccination and tests this year will be exceeded
”, warned the minister.
He nevertheless judged that the Covid envelope of 16 billion "
probably represents a spending ceiling for 2022
".
