Hidalgo and the government pass the buck after an exceptional promotion

POLITICS – Whose fault is it? Anne Hidalgo announced on Monday, November 7, the decision to increase the property tax in Paris by more than 50% in order to combat any kind of crisis. Since then, the municipality of the capital and the government of Elisabeth Borne have taken responsibility for this unexpected increase.

The socialist city council was the first to step into the pot. It was he who blamed the state and the executive in his letter to the residents of the capital to justify his big changes compared to the last Paris election campaign. Clearly, Ann Hidalgo says the government is obligated to raise local taxes because it doesn’t support local authorities enough. According to the former presidential candidate.

“ “All French municipalities are now facing a very difficult situation, unfortunately, the government did not take this into account.” he bites his plea, explaining that Elisabeth Borne and her ministers have ” refusal » All proposals to reduce the economic impact of crises on municipalities and other communities. An allegation that never went down on the main interested party.

The government responds

In Paris, it is Christophe Bechu who bears the brunt of the response, after angry reactions from Gabriel Attal, the elected minister of public accounts, or his transport counterpart, Clément Beaune. The Minister of Ecological Transition and Territorial Union called the Mayor of Paris “ take responsibility “, quoting, in his words, some ” useful truths “.

The former mayor of Angers, for example, mentions the increase of the DGF, a general operating grant to attract the attention of communities. ” A first in 13 years “, welcomes Christophe Bechu, also referring to the 2.5 billion euro envelope released “ to protect our communities from inflation or the creation of a green fund for another 2 billion.

A day earlier, Gabriel Attal, with his wallet in hand, had already taken sharp aim at the capital’s mayor and his rationale. ” Often with Mrs. Hidalgo, the State has a good back “In the Milli Mejlis, the minister of calculations answered the press. Because, according to him, “The state strongly supported the city of Paris but he can’t “Solution of management problems of the city of Paris” and his “lack of structural reforms”.

The former government spokesman also condemned this fact that ” There are more civil servants in Paris than the European Commission, civil servants who still do not work 35 hours a day..

The municipality of Paris continues

What do you need to convince the Parisian masses? Not really. Table tennis continues this Tuesday between different actors. On social networks, Ian Brossat, the communist deputy mayor of the capital, responds to Christophe Bechu, saying that Paris “ practically no longer affects the general operating fund “, the minister calls. What is true.

In the same spirit, his colleague, Ann Hidalgo’s assistant for city finance, Paul Simondon, is currying. fake news fest From Gabriel Attal. In seven messages published on social networks, the socialist explains that 35 hours have been implemented in Paris since January 1, the capital ” it pays more for solidarity with other territories than it receives from the state for a period of three years and that the number of civil servants within it is reasonable.

” Which garden is run by commission agents, which canteen, which garbage cans are collected…? “, MP before shingling, Twitter, admires: ” What a painful confusion for a minister! »

Aside from these unusual, regular exchanges between Paris mayor’s office and the government, Anne Hidalgo is not the only one to complain about the state’s disconnection with local authorities. It is not for nothing that some associations of elected officials criticize the budget allocated to them this year as “charity”, for example, they claim that the DGF is indexed to inflation.

In this context, many municipalities increase their local taxes. Between 2021 and 2022, France’s 200 largest cities grew by an average of 5%. And it’s Angers that holds the record for the highest property tax in this little game. In the city governed by Christophe Béchu until last July, the rate is 56.4%.

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