Public finances, budget and fiscal autonomy

36

Decide, finance, and report

Levrig 2027
Trajectory 2032

NB: «For the sake of fluidity and concision, In this text, the masculine is used to encompass all genders.».

The essentials

Devolution is credible only if the power to decide is accompanied by the power to finance and the obligation to account. Today, the Brittany Region has a significant budget but almost no fiscal autonomy: its main revenues depend on national decisions that are often annual, while its commitments are multi-year.

Our goal — Moving from a community administering unstable envelopes to a Brittany responsible for a basket of revenues, a consolidated budget, its investment choices and their evaluation, within the framework of the French Republic and global French solidarity.

Benchmarks 2026 — Administrative region	Value	Lecture
Initial budget	2,003 billion euros	Starting order of magnitude, non-budget of an autonomous Brittany
Investment	849 M€ — 42 %	High effort, to be preserved through savings
Operation	1,154 billion euros — 58 %	Strong rigidities and limited priority margins
Planned borrowing	544 M€ — 27 % of the revenues	An important source of funding for investment
Gross savings	175 M€	Close to the annual debt service of 174 M€
Debt relief	about 7 years	Below the 9-year ceiling cited by the Region, but to be monitored It does not take into account the indebtedness of the central government.

These figures concern the administrative region. A reunified Brittany cannot be quantified by simple addition: it is necessary to consolidate the competences, budgets, debts, assets, personnel and flows of all the communities existing in Brittany, financed by our taxes for the 5 Breton departments.

1. The diagnosis: responsibilities without full control over the means

A regional financial autonomy that has become residual for Yes Breizh

The administrative region describes revenues on which it has almost no longer a grip, subject to changes in VAT, subsidies, compensations and national collection mechanisms. In 2026, it estimates the cumulative effect of the draft finance law and the increase in employer contributions at €48 to €57 million, while the VMRR¹ would yield around 28 to 30 M€ net.

This instability weakens democratic consent: the voter no longer clearly knows who decides, who collects the revenue and who is responsible for the result. Yes Breizh therefore wants to link competence, revenue and political responsibility.

A constraint of savings and indebtedness

The regional investment is preparing the high schools, the ports, mobility, the transition and the economy. It should therefore not become a constant adjustment variable. According to Yes Breizh, the investment must provide for a capacity to de-indebtedness close to seven years and a gross savings close to the annual installment. This requires prudent programming and scenarios including a clear programmatic economic policy.

A rigorous macroeconomic reading

The document on debt analysed by Yes Breizh compares a deficit of €169 billion with revenue of €1,504 billion, or 11.2 %. This calculation can illustrate the gap to be filled relative to public revenue. However, it does not replace the European deficit-to-GDP ratio, which measures the financing needs of all public administrations relative to the wealth created. The two indicators therefore answer different questions and must be presented as such.

2. What financial autonomy means

Financial autonomy for Yes Breizh is neither fiscal isolation nor the ability to spend without limits. It is based on six inseparable guarantees.

• A diverse, readable and sufficiently dynamic basket of revenues.
• A significant portion of resources that Brittany can modulate the rate or the tax base in compliance with thresholds.
• The simultaneous transfer of competencies, personnel, data, assets and funding.
• National equalization and internal solidarity among the Breton departments.
• A golden rule of operation and a debt reserved for investment.
• An independent review, an annual public debate and an evaluation of the results within a timeframe allowing for adjustments.

Three levels that should not be confused

Level	Function	Examples
State	Common and sovereign guarantees	Macroeconomic stability, national redistribution, defense, justice, essential standards
Brittany	Strategy, standards and financing of the devolved policies	Mobility, training, economy, housing, the sea, languages, transition
Departments	Proximity, implementation and local taxation	Community and inter-community services, infrastructure and policies for local living areas

3. Building the financial perimeter of Brittany with five Départements

A consolidated account before any promises

For Yes breizh, the first step is not to set a Breton tax rate, but to establish comprehensive accounts for Brittany. It must aggregate, without double counting, the expenditures and revenues of the State, the Region, the five Départements, the intercommunalities, and the communes for the policies to be allocated.

Block to consolidate	Required work	Public result
Revenues	Territorialize taxes, national fractions, subsidies, European funds and fees	Mapping by source and volatility
Expenditures (including Personnel and Operators)	Multi-year operating commitments vs annual expenditures), investment, transfers and fiscal expenditures/ Identifying staff numbers, payroll etc.	Total cost per policy
Heritage and debt	Inventory of assets, liabilities, guarantees and contracts	Audited opening balance
Results	Identify what is precisely expected of each policy. Define clear indicators and responsibilities (project or action managers).	Managing public spending and engaging it in a perspective of common results communicated and explained to the Breton women and men.
Loire-Atlantique	Produce comparable data to 22, 29, 35 and 56	Systematic Annex Bretagne-5

What the tax data already show

The data provided indicate more than €3 billion in income tax collected in 2024 in the administrative region, with approximately 47 % households taxed against 45 % at the national level. They reveal stark contrasts between metropolises, the coast, Centre-Bretagne, business income, and pensions. They do not cover the Loire-Atlantique region and therefore cannot alone form a projection for Brittany-5.

4. A basket of responsible revenues

Yes Breizh proposes negotiating a basket rather than a miracle tax. It must distribute the economic risk, give a margin of decision, and preserve solidarity.

Resource	Proposed role	Caution
Part of income tax	Visible link between collective choices and contribution capacity	National progressivity guaranteed; limited modulation
VAT share	Large and dynamic resource	Smoothing mechanism; no exclusive dependence
Economic taxation	Financing development, skills and infrastructure	Protection of SMEs; combating over-optimization; coordination
Land and real estate taxation	Acting on tension, vacancies and rents	Segmentation, progression, protection of modest primary residences
Affected fees	Mobility, ports, resources and uses	Transparent assignment and regular evaluation
Solidarity donation	Compensating for needs, charges, and base differences	Multiannual formula, contradictory and revisable

What Yes Breizh is keeping in mind in terms of budget

Yes Breizh wants to articulate progressive taxation, multi-year stability, direct funding of local services and the search for new powers when competencies are insufficient. The idea would be to avoid a system that has existed somewhere and sometimes generates inequalities and injustices, but in the long run, publish a doctrine: contributory capacity, protection of the majority of households, visibility for businesses and an understandable allocation of revenues.

Any new Breton resource will have to be subject to an impact study, a review clause and a presentation of its winners, losers and local effects. A symbolic low-yield tax should not obscure the need for a genuine sharing of the vast resources.

The issue of French debt is also a matter of great concern for Yes Breizh. A contribution-based approach to resolving it must be linked to a transfer of fiscal power.².

5. A Breton budget rule

Golden rule and investment debt

The operating budget is voted for at a real balance. The borrowing exclusively finances investment and not current expenses. A contingency reserve and a stabilization fund absorb the variations in revenue.

Warning thresholds, non-blind automatisms

Indicator	Proposed alert zone	Response
Ability to reduce indebtedness	Alert at 8 years; ordinary ceiling at 9 years	Public corrective plan; temporary derogation only in a crisis or exceptional investment
Gross savings	Degradation of two consecutive exercises	Review of expenditures and revenues; protection of essential services
This is a variable-rate loan	Excessive exposure to rates	Risk ceiling and documented coverage
Operating expenses	Growth exceeding structural revenues	Targeted measures, no uniform approach
Investment	Underperformance or cost drift	Reprogramming and audit of large projects

An anti-cavalerie rule

No new competence can be accepted without certified dynamic resources. An independent commission³ It assesses the initial cost, future charges and the discrepancies found. A dispute resolution procedure must be able to bind the French State and Brittany.

6. A readable, democratic and evaluated budget

The remarks made at the time in the Cultural Council of Brittany to provide an opinion on the Budget are generalizable: a budget is understandable only if it brings together commitments and programs, payment credits, achieved goals, performance indicators (KPIs), and responsible parties.

Yes Breizh offers a budget accessible at three levels.

• A summary: Where did the €100 come from and what are they used for?
• A budget per mission: objectives, means, responsible person, achieved N-1 and target N+1.
• Open data: transactions, subsidies, markets, beneficiaries and indicators, subject to protected secrets.
• A consolidated Brittany-5 budget: the same nomenclatures to allow comparisons and cooperation.
• A report of discrepancies: what was planned, accomplished, delayed, or abandoned, with an explanation.

Evaluate before extending the contract

Yes Breizh believes that each scheme must have a duration, a quantified objective and a review clause. Low-impact subsidies, windfall effects and stacked funding must be reviewed. This discipline must not lead to sacrificing minority policies, but rather structuring ones. The report must indeed systematically establish the relationship between objectives and costs.⁴.

7. Twelve commitments

1. Publish a consolidated account of public finances in Brittany across five departments.

2. Adopting a common nomenclature for policies between the Region, the Départements and large public-sector entities.

3. To combine all the powers assigned to a dynamic resource with an audited opening balance sheet.

4. Negotiate a diversified basket of revenues that includes a truly customizable portion.

5. Guaranteeing the progressivity, stability and protection of modest households and SMEs.

6. Maintain national equalization and create an internal equalization for Brittany-5.

7. Save the loan for investment and preserve sufficient savings.

8. Create a stabilization fund and annual resilience tests.

9. Present for each mission objectives, responsibilities, budget, achievements and results.

10. Publish the fiscal expenditures, subsidies and multi-year commitments.

11. Submit any new tax to an impact study and a review clause.

12. Have the budget and its results examined by an independent body and by the Breton democratic representation.

8. Calendar 2027-2032

Period	Decisions and deliverables	Control point
2027 — To know	Observatory of Brittany’s finances - 5; common nomenclature; inventory of competencies, revenues, expenditures, debts, assets and personnel	First consolidated territorial account and the Loire-Atlantique annex
2028 — Simulate	Three scenarios of devolution; basket of revenues; equalization mechanisms; crisis tests; democratic debate	Financial white paper with figures, open assumptions and independent audit
2029 — Negotiate	Framework Agreement State-Brittany; draft organic law; rules on indebtedness; commission on transfers	Agreement on blocks of competencies, means and resolution of disputes
2030 — Foreshadowing	Consolidated dry-run budget; tax liaison administration; data systems; training of agents	Certification of the opening balance sheet and simulated fiscal year exercise
2031 — Transfer	First complete blocks; corresponding revenues; stabilization funds; independent control	Half-yearly report on costs, delays, continuity of services and deviations
2032 — Evaluate	Conditional generalization; correcting imbalances; consultation on the next step	Five-year public report and clause for democratic review

This calendar represents a method applicable to other topics or actions.

9. Monitoring dashboard

Indicator	Reference/target 2032	Frequency	Responsible
Data from Bretagne-5 published	100 % of the five departments by 2028	Annually	Observatory
Truly modifiable resources	Substantial share; voting trajectory after simulation	Budget	Assembly
Competences with certified funding	100 %	Each transfer	Independent Commission
Ability to reduce indebtedness	Below 9 years, except where a justified exemption applies	Quarterly	Executive / auditor
Gross savings	Positive and compatible with the PPI	Quarterly	Executive
Debt financing investment	100 %	Annually	Auditor General's Chamber
Budget/realized difference	Published and explained by mission	Semiannual	Mission leaders
Programs with objectives and a pilot	100 % in 2029	Annually	Assembly
Assessed tax expenditures	100 % over a 3-year cycle	Annually	Evaluation Board
Payment term	Below the legal deadline; published trend	Monthly	Administration
Internal equalization	Reducing gaps in access to services	Annually	Conference of the Territories
Readability	Progress measured by survey	Annually	Committees

10. Risks and responses

Risk	Institutional response
Tax competition or dumping	Limits set by organic law, common tax bases, social floors and interterritorial cooperation
Inequalities between Départements	Equalization based on resources, charges and accessibility
Underfunded transfer	Conflicting certification, indexation clause and independent arbitration
Centralisation	Subsidiarity, guaranteed local revenues and discussion in the Assembly of Brittany5.
Increased complexity	Complete functional blocks, a single gateway and the elimination of duplications
Unfunded promises	Multiannual programming, scenarios, golden rule and separate vote on new measures

Conclusion — Responsibility through the budget

A Breton status without financial autonomy would remain administrative. A fiscal autonomy without solidarity or discipline would, conversely, be dangerous. The Yes Breizh project meets both requirements: bringing power and taxation closer together, while protecting common rights, equalization and sustainability.

True transparency consists in making every choice traceable: a competence, a decision-maker, a resource, an objective and a result. In both the State and Brittany, no one should be able to promise without funding and no one should be able to take money without reporting it.

Mobilized resources and precautions

• Brittany Region, Budgetary orientations for 2026, December 2025.
• Brittany Region, 2026 initial budget — General introduction and resources.
• DGFiP Analyses, No. 43, The tax revenues collected by the DGFiP in 2025, March 2026.
• Cultural Council of Brittany, Analysis of the 2023 budget — remarks and proposals.
• Article submitted on income tax in Brittany, data 2024; regional administrative boundaries to be confirmed for any reuse.
• Note on French debt; distinction restored between deficit/GDP and deficit/revenues.
• Scottish National Party, Holyrood Election Manifesto 2026, used as a comparison of fiscal doctrine and method, without automatic institutional transposition.

General precautions: The figures for 2026 are budgetary data or estimates as of today. They do not constitute the projected budget for an autonomous Brittany. The targets for 2032 are proposed management guidelines; they will need to be validated after the consolidation of Brittany-5, legal expertise, an impact study, and negotiations with the central government.

Notes and clarifications

1. As of January 1st 2026, the Brittany Region has introduced the Regional and Rural Mobility Payment (VMRR), a resource intended to strengthen the transport offer across the four Breton departments. As the organizing authority for regional mobility, the Region must therefore finance the development of the BreizhGo TER and bus networks, modernize infrastructure, implement the Regional Bike Plan, and improve access to mobility solutions in rural and sparsely populated areas. The Regional and Rural Mobility Payment applies to all employers, public and private, with at least 11 employees, whose establishments are located in Brittany. This is a new payroll tax. For an employee paid 2,000 euros gross per month, the cost for the employer is estimated at between €1.60 and €3.00 per month depending on the Brittany regions. The effectiveness of this new tax measure is not specifically planned by the Region.
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2. Today Brittany is paying this debt (and its interest) without knowing how much and without knowing its impact on its economy and the purchasing power of the Breton women and men. ↩

3. Any creation of an observatory or agency etc. will have to be linked to the disappearance of at least one other equivalent public entity with the full reinstatement of the staff. Adjustments may be made subsequently. Thus Yes Breizh proposes to rely heavily on the (regional) Court of Accounts of Brittany. ↩

4. Thus, no transformation is generalized without a budget, a roadmap, revenue, and evaluation. No objective is imposed without a budget, a timeline, support, and accessible technical solution. No transfer takes place without resources. In the event of failure, the system is corrected rather than maintained to meet a display requirement. A code green, orange, red It will indicate the trajectory, but will never replace the figures and their explanation. A temporary increase in an indicator may correspond to a transition or to a better census: each evolution will be interpreted before a decision is made.
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5. This Assembly could be constituted in a German manner between a chamber of deputies and a chamber of regions (or countries) of Brittany. ↩

The thematic dossiers of Levrig 2027 by Yes Breizh

• 1. Statute, institutions, devolution and Constitution
• 2. Public finances, budget and fiscal autonomy
• 2 bis. Budgetary analysis France – Brittany 5
• 3. The public service in Brittany
• 4. Health in Brittany
• 5. Disability in Brittany
• 6. Education, training and higher education
• 7. Culture, languages and media
• 8. Breton identity, transmission and cohesion
• 9. Housing in Brittany
• 10. Employment, businesses and economic development
• 11. Economy, trade and mobility
• 12. Agriculture and food
• 13. Sea, coast and fishing
• 14. Energy, climate and the ecological transition
• 15. Digitalization and sovereignty
• 16. Security, justice and defense
• 17. Europe and internationally
• 18. Breton Diaspora and international outreach