Amid questions about a possible reform of the tax shelter, MR group leader in the Chamber Benoit Piedboeuf calls for not weakening a mechanism that generates jobs, tax revenue and international prestige for Belgium.
"Touching the tax shelter means risking weakening an entire high-performing economic ecosystem," warns Benoit Piedboeuf from the outset, as the government discusses a possible revision of the scheme.
The Cannes Film Festival has just ended, and Belgium once again shone there. This is largely thanks to the tax shelter, a tool that has become essential for cinema and allows our country to exist on the international stage.
The figures prove it: according to a Deloitte study (2024), the French-speaking audiovisual sector alone accounts for 4,137 jobs and generated €579 million in gross production in 2022. It also contributed €76 million in direct tax revenue. "This mechanism doesn't cost the State anything: it pays off. And it pays off massively," Benoit Piedboeuf stresses.
The tax shelter now accounts for 71% of financing for independent audiovisual production in French-speaking Belgium, with €93.9 million raised in 2022. "Removing or weakening this lever means drying up the main funding source for Belgian cinema," he underlines.
Beyond the amounts, the leverage effect is exceptional: every euro of public investment generates €4.4 in production and €2.02 in added value for the economy. "Few public policies can boast such a return. In the audiovisual sector, €1 million invested creates 31 jobs, almost double the average for other sectors."
The scheme also helps attract foreign investment. In 2025, minority co-productions generated €230 million in spending in Belgium, of which €115 million came directly from foreign financing. “Without the tax shelter, these amounts would go elsewhere, to countries that are strengthening their own support schemes”, warns Benoit Piedboeuf. “We are open to improving the system, particularly to strengthen legal certainty. But questioning its very principle would be a major strategic mistake. As budget discussions approach, we must avoid making poor choices that would break an entire economic sector. Indeed, the tax shelter is not a simple subsidy, it is a genuine financial instrument that supports an entire economy, both in Flanders and in Wallonia, and generates revenue for the federal budget. It also attracts foreign capital, notably through international productions and platforms such as Netflix.”
Without the tax shelter, the entire audiovisual and performing arts sectors would collapse, and the video game sector would have to start from scratch. Moreover, it is often forgotten that this mechanism has enabled a remarkable professionalisation of the sector, with Belgian producers now fully recognised on the international stage.
In conclusion, the MR group leader calls for consistency: "You cannot want to recover the tax revenue generated by the sector at federal level while at the same time weakening the tool that makes it possible. The tax shelter is a Belgian success, recognised and envied. Let's preserve it, strengthen it, but not destroy it," concludes Benoit Piedboeuf.