The measure had been on the table for several weeks. This time it's official. The government plans to introduce in 2024 a new tax on motorway concessions and major airports that should bring in 600 million euros annually, he announced Wednesday while presenting his draft budget.
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The tax on long-distance transport infrastructure will actually be implemented," Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters before the presentation of the next budget to the Council of Ministers. "These are polluting transport infrastructures, whether road or air," he added. But "the best financing" for the "extremely high" and "imperative" investments necessary in terms of ecological transition, "is to ensure that those who pollute more contribute more," he insisted.
See alsoTax motorway companies more will not lead to an increase in the price of tolls, says Clément Beaune
The central question of the toll price
Bruno Le Maire assured that this increase in taxation would not be passed on "on the user" thanks to the maintenance of "the definition of toll rates". The companies targeted by this new tax will have to meet a threshold of turnover and profitability, said the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The executive had already announced its willingness to tax motorway concessionaires such as Vinci, Sanef or Eiffage because of their profitability deemed excessive, but the Council of State had warned against the "high" legal risk of targeting only companies in this sector.
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An increase in taxes is inevitably an increase in toll rates, "replied Wednesday the president of Vinci Autoroutes, Pierre Coppey, after the announcement by the government of a new tax on highways and major airports. Increasing taxation "would not only be a violation of the word of the State" but also "a misinterpretation at a time when it is urgent to invest to decarbonize the road," Vinci said in a message sent to AFP.
