Proposition 53K2902

Projet de loi relatif à la certification d'un système de caisse enregistreuse dans le secteur horeca.

General information ¶

Submitted by

PS | SP the Di Rupo government

Submission date

June 24, 2013

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

catering industry moonlighting

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit LE PS | SP Open Vld MR

Voted to reject

LDD VB

Abstained from voting

Groen Ecolo ∉ N-VA

Party dissidents ¶

• Bernard Clerfayt (MR) voted to reject.
• Olivier Maingain (MR) voted to reject.
• Damien Thiéry (MR) voted to reject.
• Alexandra Colen (VB) abstained from voting.
• Peter Luykx (CD&V) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

July 16, 2013 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I am referring to the written report.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, you quickly get rid of the story that this is just a technical bill. You get rid of something too quickly. It is a missed opportunity for the government to finally do what it has long been proclaiming in all possible media, namely to provide flanking measures for the sector. There is nothing about this. You have failed to do that. You missed this opportunity.

You say that it is not your competence but that of the Minister of Labour to allow for a relaxed labour legislation or a relaxation of employment. The same goes for professionalization. I still assume that a bill comes from the whole government, that it is carried out by the whole government. And so you could have taken the opportunity to be in favor of the sector.

This is a very concerned sector, a very concerned sector. With what is stated here, we confirm one thing. The catering provider will face the registered cash register, which is a fact. However, the survival chances of the sector remain uncertain. That remains with the promises of your colleagues ministers and secretaries of state.

This is the first legislative initiative since the royal decree of 2005 related to the sector, related to the box office, related to the fight against black labour. You could have taken this opportunity to include all those announcements here, to provide a timing, to make a promise. You did one thing in the committee. You have said that the plan for burden reductions will also come into effect on 1 January.

This is a commitment that we are now taking. However, be aware that this will not be enough to help the sector in need. After the introduction of the registered cash system, you should have given the industry a number of measures that have been discussed for a long time. A reduction of the burden alone will not be enough.

You will have to take very different measures. A relaxation in employment should be enabled. The industry has long been a demanding party in this regard. Promises are made by the government in the media. On paper, as I have already noted, there is nothing. It remains a missed opportunity.

Today you have the opportunity to make some promises to the industry immediately. The industry will thank you if you do so today.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, the project for the introduction of a standardized cash system in the horeca sector is part of the government agreement.

We share the commendable goal of fighting social and tax fraud. However, we find it important to relay the concerns of the horeca sector that sees in this bill an additional obstacle to the viability of its establishments. I have also repeatedly referred to your Secretary of State.

The circumstances in which we discuss this text are difficult. No one knows that we are experiencing a large-scale economic crisis and that the decrease in consumption, more precisely the restriction by households of leisure spending, deeply affects the horeca sector.

In the committee, I have repeatedly questioned your Secretary of State on the subject. He had promised me to prepare, in parallel with this bill on the cash system, a plan of support to the sector that would be precisely financed by returning to the state cash of the amounts that escape them today through black work. I regret not having heard you about this yet. I would like to reaffirm the importance I attach to the fact that these two initiatives are carried out in parallel. I will therefore return to the committee to question you again – or your Secretary of State – on this plan that we are looking forward to with great impatience.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, dear colleagues, our group is also interested in the arrangements that are being put in place, which must combat black labour in order to avoid the precariation of workers in the horeca sector. At the same time, we are concerned about taking account of this sector, which faces many difficulties in this time of crisis. It’s a business that only spends when it has the resources.

There has been an attempt to support through the reduction of the VAT rate, but it is known that this tool does not solve the problems. It would be interesting to have a discussion with the industry about this provision because we are wondering if this was really the path to be highlighted. There are promises to work on social contributions or on a tax reform. All of this is associated with the device associated with the cash register.

Mr. Minister, your bill leaves a lot of room for the King to complete the planned arrangements. As I told you in the committee, I can understand that the technical details and standards of the machine can not be settled in a bill but by the administration.

Article 5 states that the authorisation can be withdrawn from a manufacturer or distributor of a cash register if it is discovered that the machine does not meet the criteria. I think this article should be more precise for the restaurator. One cannot merely say that the King will take the arrangements and say to what criteria to comply in the event of a withdrawal of an authorisation.

The restaurant owner will use this fund on a voluntary basis from January 2014, but it is known that later he will have to use it compulsorily. Once the system is set up, it will no longer be able to use the VAT strains and the usual way of carrying out its activity. In my opinion, the law must provide, in its devices, a phrase stipulating that in the event of withdrawal of authorisation, a period of three months during which it can reuse the VAT strains is left to the user and this, the time that it acquires a new cash.

In commission, you stated that a royal decree would be taken by one of your colleagues before the end of the year.

Today, I submitted an amendment because I consider that it would be respectful to the restaurants to provide in the law a provision according to which the restaurant owner has a three-month period during which he can use the old system to restore order, considering that he is not guilty of the withdrawal of approval of the cash register he had acquired. This would, in any case, allow restorers to know what to stick to. Of course, the decree will be able to specify in a much more subtle way the provisions to be taken, in particular in a complementary way.

I would like this amendment to be taken into consideration at this plenary session.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Minister, dear colleagues, you are not without knowing that the horeca sector is ⁇ important for the Belgian economy. It has 56 580 companies in the territory, which corresponds to 7.4% of the total at the national level. It also develops high-intensity low-skilled workforce activities. I insist on this expression, because it is obviously a terminology highly appreciated by the times that run, the horeca sector playing a social role not negligible.

Unfortunately, the horeca sector is, like other sectors, hit full-blown by the crisis. It is often forgotten to recall that in 2012, ⁇ 2,000 bankruptcies were recorded, an increase of 28% based on the statistics of the last five years. This is a record, a sad record, which has never been equated. Let’s translate this into 1,148 restaurants and 804 cafes and hotels!

These figures are extremely worrying. The first statistics for 2013 are also. In January, there were 181 bankruptcies and in February, 178. The situation would have been much more catastrophic if VAT had not been reduced to 12%. It was somehow a real oxygen blow for the industry. The aim of this decline was obviously to create jobs and allow the sector to invest. But today we see that the effort made to reduce VAT in 2009 has not been sufficient, especially since 2012, the government has taken austerity measures, which undermine growth and hit ⁇ .

On the other hand, the half-measures or “measures” – of which my colleague Clerfayt spoke – which were taken for the relief are quite insufficient to boost the economy and, above all, the sectors that bring jobs, such as the horeca. It is a fact, it is known that the economic situation has changed and that corrective measures need to be taken. It is urgent to reduce the social burden that is far too high. Compared to our neighboring countries, wage charges are too heavy. The most important post of cafes and restaurants in our country, in terms of cost, is that of staff. In addition to this, energy expenditure decreases the benefit margin. If we want to continue to support a sector that creates jobs and avoid any social tragedy associated with inadequate measures for the sector, the overall plan for horeca should be revised.

It is no longer possible to simply link the decrease in VAT to the establishment of a cash system.

I imagine, Mr. Minister, that you will tell me that a preliminary bill provides for a flat-rate reduction in social contributions to employers in the horeca sector when the cash register is introduced. My predecessors at this tribune have already touched a word of it. The proposed system does not go far enough and brings a lot of problems.

The proposed €500 reduction applies only to the top five workers, which in the end creates a distortion of competition between establishments. The limit of five employees is quickly reached. It is therefore very difficult to say whether the system will encourage operators to report all their staff. But it is likely that this will not be the case or only for establishments employing less than five employees.

Moreover, a cash register registering all employees is in no way a guarantee in the sense that the collection and possibly the taking of orders will be the only elements that the cash register will be able to perceive. Anyone who wishes to pay a portion of their staff in the black will always have the opportunity to assign this portion of staff to tasks that do not require any interaction with the cash. This system is already in use at the moment, for other reasons, ⁇ such as the organization and the fight against theft: it is sufficient, for this to do, to reserve the taking of orders and the collection to certain well-specific workers. Therefore, this problem will not be solved.

That is why we advocate more for a system that aims to offer the taxpayer the possibility to deduct their restaurant ratings with a ceiling and terms, a system that would ⁇ encourage the customer to ask for his strain and would naturally encourage the operator to report its turnover. This alternative proposal would allow for better control while encouraging taxpayers to attend the establishments of the horeca sector and other ⁇ covered by the same system.

In any case, this registration system presented to the vote of members is probably not well thought out enough, in any case not accurately enough. There are many shadow areas. The industry also highlights the many questions still unanswered. For example, how will the implantation on the ground take place? How much will actually cost the cash register for the establishments? Will this system, in the future, be developed in other sectors or is the horeca sector the only target? How will the tax administration analyze and manipulate this new data? So many questions that we have no answers to.

Therefore, Mr. Minister, you will not be surprised to see my group not supporting this bill. Ultimately, the only thing we risk recording with these new casinos is more bankruptcies and fewer jobs.

A study by the Solvay Brussels School even mentions 15,000 job losses and 27% bankruptcies in the sector. In a context of crisis, this is a direct attack on the horeca sector.

We may be told that we criticize without providing a solution. I just ask that the government consider supplementary measures to what will be voted.

This includes, for example, further reducing social contributions, allowing an annualization of working time in order to match the hours of staff with the opening hours of establishments, reducing the burden on overtime and, why not, establishing a coordination system for energy purchases in order to reduce the costs for these establishments.

Such a more comprehensive plan will restore fair competition in this sector and fight fraud more effectively, without compromising cafes, restaurants and especially the jobs resulting from it.

Mr. Minister, the Flemish Interest will not approve this bill because we believe that the policy seems to be able to reintroduce aggravating measures, while the sector, representing tens of thousands of employees and with an undeniable social role in our society, is still waiting for the promised side measures.

Month after month, catering companies score very high in bankruptcy rates. The industry has been screaming for accompanying measures for years, especially after the introduction of the smoking ban last year. You know that. So one may wonder where this great plan remains as well as the promised measures to help the sector.

Our group has already proposed years ago to reduce the VAT in the hospitality sector to 6%. This is only one of the many examples. So our vision is very clear. The government would have better developed a global rescue plan for the hospitality industry before presenting us again a new obligation for the hospitality industry, this time the box office. We will not approve this bill.

I will be very short. I will not approve this bill either. I know that this does not matter much in the whole, but I use the opportunity to make my judgment.

I think this bill goes beyond the real problems in the catering sector. The real problem is not only the black work, but also the finding of staff. This problem is not solved with this cashier. This does not mean that I am in favor of black money, although in this sector it is sometimes a certain form of self-defense and survival.

Let us be very concrete. I welcome that additional social measures are being taken and that there is a convergence based on the payment of social contributions. If we look closely at the sector, we find that the staffing problem is related to finding people for weekend and/or night work. These individuals must pay up to half of their salary to the tax authorities.

The entrepreneur must pay a piece under the table in order to hire such people, because otherwise he has no staff. This bill does not solve this problem. It only makes it more difficult for all parties – employer and employee.

It has already been established that the reduction of VAT in the restaurant sector has done nothing, and this despite the promise to recruit more personnel. Prices also did not go down. The reason is that these measures overlook the real problem, namely the finding of personnel. As an entrepreneur, one must create black money to get those people, who are busy day and night, to work in black.

For this problem, a solution must be found. People who serve four hours on a wedding party Saturday night to Sunday morning would no longer have to give half of their bet to the tax office. That is the essence of the problem and not the witch hunt that arises from entering the black box. That black box will be introduced only in the catering industry and later maybe also in the grocery business.

However, one must solve the essence of the problem, namely to reduce the burden on labor. Not only the parafiscal burdens, but also the tax burdens are the real problem.