Medef thanks four regional presidents who refuse to apply a tax on businesses

A Mobility Payment (VM) was previously paid by companies in the Paris region and large cities and urban areas. The 2025 budget extends the ability to levy this tax on companies to other regions, up to a maximum of 0,15% of the payroll.

But four right-wing regions have refused this windfall in recent days, in the name of protecting businesses.

"We will not implement this Mobility Payment in Hauts-de-France. The Region is not there to tax businesses, the State already does too much of that," Xavier Bertrand, President of Hauts-de-France, declared on X.

"I will never implement a new tax on our businesses. We are standing on our heads: our economy does not need more taxes, but less taxes!" exclaims Christelle Morançais (Pays de la Loire) also on X.

"The region will choose businesses over taxation," the Auvergne Rhône-Alpes region also declared in a press release in which its president Fabrice Pannekoucke promised that there would be "neither an increase in debt nor an increase in tax pressure."

The president of the Normandy region, Hervé Morin, considered the levy "indecent" this week in Le Parisien, because "companies already have very high tax levels and the economic context does not lend itself to it".

The Medef, the leading employers' organisation, called this week on other regions to imitate their neighbours: "Regional presidents: choose businesses and employment!", it wrote.

For the Medef, the decision of the four regions "reflects their awareness and their real understanding of the economic issues".

He estimates that the VMR could reach "more than 500 million euros per year", which he considers "unbearable for businesses in our regions".

According to him, the mobility payment cost employers "more than 9,3 billion euros" in 2023.

The employers' organization denounces tax increases of "13 billion euros" in the 2025 budget, including 8 billion in corporate tax surcharges for companies with a turnover of more than one billion euros.