The Court of Auditors published at the beginning of March a report evaluating the effects of dock dues in the French Overseas Territories, which underlines, without surprise, that the revenue from this tax is mainly allocated to the operating expenses of the municipalities, unrelated to investments, and that dock dues have a negative effect on the cost of living.
In conclusion, the report considers that the status quo option must be rejected and favors two other scenarios : a “reformist”, but which “cannot be limited to a few scattered and small-scope measures”, and a rupture scenario “which would lead to replacing the dock dues with a new resource, which could rely on the VAT model, notably via a regional VAT”. The report caused an outcry in Reunion, where elected officials added their voice to that of local producers to denounce “simplistic reasoning”, “the anachronistic nature of such a reform” which would threaten the fiscal autonomy of communities… “The question of the cost of living will not be resolved with the replacement of dock dues with additional VAT”, insisted Huguette Bello, president of the region, during a collective press conference on March 14. President of the Association of Mayors, Serge Hoareau, for his part, announced the launch of a study on price formation in the French Overseas Territories., with the aim of demonstrating that the high cost of living overseas has many other causes than dock dues.
