In 20 years, Paris debt has jumped 600% – BFM Business

On January 1, 2021, the capital’s debt reached 7.7 billion euros. An increase of 13% in a single year. The burden of debt resting on each tax household is significantly higher in Paris than in Marseille.

7.713 billion euros, an increase of almost 13% in one year. Based on the annual publication by Bercy local authority accounts, the economic magazine Capital asked the Paris town hall on the reasons that led the largest city in France to let its debt slip away (see box).

In fact, the capital’s level of indebtedness is unprecedented. And to take the measure, it suffices to look at its evolution since the beginning of the century. At the end of 2001, the year in which Bertrand Delanoë delighted the town hall to the right, the city’s debt was limited to 1.09 billion euros. At the end of her two terms, she had grown by 3 billion. And since the arrival to power of Anne Hidalgo, the movement has grown since in six years, the debt has increased on average by 600 million euros per year.

A debt of 5,390 euros per tax household

To get a better idea of ​​what this increase in indebtedness in the most populous city in France represents, we can report it on a per capita basis. It went from 3,097 to 3,498 euros in one year. Better yet, it can be measured by tax household, since a municipal debt rests on the shoulders of its taxpayers.

And there the amount is even more impressive: 5,390 euros. Especially if we compare it to the debt by fiscal household of other large cities in France. Paris comes first, far ahead of Marseille (3000 euros). And the difference with the least indebted of the large regional capitals is colossal: Toulouse (700 euros), Nantes (1040 euros), Lyon (1320 euros).

A downgraded financial rating last May

Admittedly, to be complete, it would be necessary to take into account the intercommunalities – knowing that moreover, Paris is the only city in France to also be a department – but that does not modify the situation in depth. The capital also saw its financial rating downgraded last May by the agency Fitch.

There remains one difference – of size – between Paris and Marseille: the income and assets of their inhabitants. Their fiscal leeway is not comparable. But it is difficult to see how Paris could regain budgetary room for maneuver and continue to invest at the same rate without increasing taxes.