5 minimum wage in the most affected sectors 1

In these times of scarcity of public finances, the Government appears to have undertaken to track down tax or social niches undue. For several weeks, missions and reports of institutions take place, including the overseas, naturally preferred target of the contradictory of these benefits, including the Act of 2003 programming, said Bill Girardin, passed for fifteen years. Thus was first published in July, the Central Agency for social security (Acoss), a balance sheet 2005 of the exemptions from contributions overseas showing how these departments go beyond the measures applied in Metropolis ("Les Echos" from July 27). A few days later, an audit of the Department of Finance ("Les Echos" from August 4) stressed the fact that the cost of a job created or maintained in the DOM represents 38.200 euros in relief of loads.

The Government will stop to these "accounting" balances to justify, on the next financial law, the reduction of the scope of some of the measures of the Act, Girardin Such an initiative may be politically heavy consequences in a few months of major electoral deadlines. Also, prefer power probably wait. It will need to wait until the first results of the parliamentary panel installed at the beginning of July by the Minister of the overseas. A work that is likely to take time as Simon Loueckhote, Senator of New Caledonia and President of the commission (22 members), tells the "Echos" it "intends to conduct its mission in each community overseas." Last year, Senator, with other parliamentarians, had already alerted the Prime Minister, during the debate on the 2006 LOLF, remission in issue two provisions lighthouses Act Girardin, in this case loads exemptions and the tax exemption.

More competitive

Only, until then, the economic and social Council tried an overall analysis but its means of investigation have remained limited. Presented more than a month ago, this work found a rather positive review of the Act of programming. "Waiver of charges has been a factor of competitiveness for the overseas companies face competition from neighbouring countries with much lower labour costs," can be read. Or: "in twenty years, the tax exemption has helped mitigate some structural handicaps of the overseas, to strengthen the market sector and to diversify." "The two measures were, if not sufficient to ensure genuine development, the less necessary to avoid degradation of the overseas economies", turns the report.

The these said that the unemployment rate in the DOM, although that still high (27.9), decreased by 3.2 between July 2004 and July 2005, compared with 0.8 per cent in metropolitan France. Similarly, salaried employment grew by 2.4 of end 2003 to late 2004 ( 0.3 in metropolitan France) and the years 2004 and 2005 "were years of strong business creation". The elders of the Avenue d ' Iéna regret however that the device did not more distinction between the General case of 10 employees at most companies "and the most vulnerable sectors such as tourism, long affected the West Indies." Also he suggests to the legislature to eliminate the effects of threshold by exempting companies regardless of their strength, "the amount of the exemption still calculated on the first ten employees". He even proposes to extend the benefit of the exemption to 1.5 minimum wage in the most affected sectors, (1.3 in the Act).

The benefits of the tax exemption

With regard to the tax exemption of the Act branch, the these note of positive impacts such as the revival of renewable energies that "helped to increase the energy independence of the overseas", the renewed activity of boating or even the increase in the supply of housing. But need now to ease the procedure of registration, help tourism otherwise, redirect the housing assistance, make eligible R & D and strengthen the equity of companies because system, due to its imperfections, or even its perverse effects, pushes the candidates for the tax exemption to split their projects, hotels to satisfy owners, housing to be progressively discardedthe market for land to see its costs higher, regret the report.