This is a tax that was voted in the government budget for 2024 and approved by the Constitutional Council. Known as the Intercity Infrastructure Tax, the latter will mainly affect motorway concession companies (SCAs) and airports. The SCAs, which will be most affected by this tax, have announced that they want to transfer it to fares.

A tax that hurts

In total, the government has to recover about 600 million euros from concession companies for major transport infrastructures in France. A tax to finance the ecological transition.

Obviously, as was to be expected, the highway concessionaires did not approve of this new tax. The latter clarified that this tax contradicts the spirit of their contracts with the state. And although the wise men of the Council have approved this new tax, Xavier Huyard, CEO of Vinci concessions and BTP group, says that the group will initiate proceedings in the administrative court and the Council of State. It must be said that the group has a lot to cheer about, as this tax will cost them a whopping €280 million.

What is the increase for motorists?

For several years now, February 1 in France has been synonymous with fare increases. In 2024, the increase in the territory should be about 3%. Of course, the increase varies by SCA and region.

Here are the different price increases depending on the different SCAs according to Le Parisien:

• 3.87% for the Frejus tunnel
• 3.23% for the Mont Blanc tunnel
• 3.08% on the SAPN network
• 3.04% in the AREA network
• 3.02% in network APRR
• 2.79% in the Sanef network
• 2.71% on the Cofiroute, ASF and Escota networks

At the moment, we do not yet know whether the state authorities will be able to transfer this tax to the increase in fares, as they wish. If Clément Beaune, the former transport minister, announces that this will not be possible, the SCA will question it.

According to them, the contracts that were signed between the two parties stipulate that any sector-specific tax should be subject to compensation, which could be a tariff. SCAs are already announcing a 6% increase by 2025, but nothing is set yet.

To be continued…

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