Cross-border workers protest new tax measure
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Social tensions are once again brewing on the French-Luxembourg border. On Friday morning, 22 March, protests are expected in Audun-le-Tiche, which could seriously affect traffic on the main thoroughfare through the city centre. The reason for the discontent is the tax reform introduced this year, which is hurting the pockets of cross-border workers.
These are employees who live in France but work in Luxembourg on a daily basis - the so-called frontaliers. The new tax measure, according to estimates by the Committee for the Defence of the Interests of Luxembourg Cross-Border Workers (CDIFL - Comité pour la Défense des Intérêts des Frontaliers Luxembourgeois), could cost some families an extra €3,000 annually.
Particularly acute dissatisfaction is caused by the fact that the measure affects families where spouses work in different countries. Such a situation, according to CDIFL, destroys the balance of cross-border working life by creating artificial financial barriers and depriving such couples of fair tax treatment.
The protesters are demanding the immediate cancellation of the tax initiative and are in favour of a more coordinated and sustainable system of tax interaction between Luxembourg and France. According to CDIFL representatives, the situation was made possible by a lack of political coordination that ignores the specificities of the lives of thousands of people who cross the border every day for work.
