After a final round of technical talks, the final of the federal budget talks begins this weekend. Additional revenues are also on the table, such as the increase in the securities tax or the abolition of the tax benefit on second homes.
In federal budget talks, ministers and their cabinet employees are preparing for the season finale, which starts Friday night and could last until Monday night.
A consensus has already been reached in recent days not to allow an increase in employers’ wage contributions in line with inflation, which could reduce the indexation shock for employers by a fifth. mute. It is not yet clear to what extent this is a deferral of payment or a remission.
The essence
- The federal government will begin concluding the 2023 budget negotiations on Friday.
- On the income side, there is talk of the adjustment of the tax on securities, the tax exemption on second homes and the tax on copyright.
- On the expense side, parental leave, the budget for stockpiling for public employees and possibly the equalization of public employees’ pensions are on the table.
- The deadline is Tuesday, when Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Open VLD) makes his political statement in the House.
As far as is known, no decisions have yet been taken in the other files. A meeting on Wednesday evening, during which the atmosphere at the table became even more sparkling, did not produce breakthroughs. Technical meetings are previously scheduled for Thursday and Friday at the cabinet employee level. The real work starts on Friday night.
The greatest sensitivity appears to be the federal budget deficit and the adjustments to prevent it from rising sharply. The government must seek measures to reduce the gap by about 1.7 billion per year. Government parties agreed that one third should come from new revenue, one third from savings and one third from other means.
Income
For income, CD&V, Greens and Socialists think about the abolition of the tax benefit on the second home, which the coach had previously blocked. There is also a proposal on the table to increase the rate of the securities tax. There are estimates of € 150 million in additional revenue, which would mean the rate will rise from 0.15 to 0.21 percent.
But liberals make it clear that such a tax hike is only possible if the socialists and the Greens allow labor market reforms that put more people into work. The options are flexible care jobs and more flexible student work.
Furthermore, a greater solidarity contribution for banks is on the table and the discussion on the digital tax is underway. The multi-year budget includes the income for this tax, but the European version is not yet available. Socialists are pushing for the introduction of the digital tax at the Belgian level, but it would be very difficult diplomatically.
In addition to revenue, the finance minister proposed a copyright tax reform as well as a minimum corporate tax on Thursday. International negotiations are underway on this, but the intention would be to introduce a temporary Belgian tax until the global tax is in effect.
Liberals make it clear that a higher securities tax is only possible if the Socialists and the Greens allow labor market reforms that bring more people into the workforce.
Expenses
As far as savings are concerned, a difficult debate opens on the surcharge that the Civil Service Minister Petra De Sutter (Verdi) has promised to the 65,000 federal public employees. The salary increase is estimated at 180 million euros. The actual cost would be higher, which means that not everything that has been agreed with the government unions can be done.