"We have already raised taxes," says Thomas Piketty

“What bothers me is all the unsaid. [Emmanuel Macron] tells us, for example, "I'm not going to raise taxes". Except that in fact, we have already increased them. "Thomas Piketty estimated, this Monday on France Inter, that, contrary to the commitment of President Emmanuel Macron not to increase the taxation, a tax increase had already taken place with the extension of a levy intended to reimburse the social debt.

The economist pointed to the recent extension over almost ten years of the collection of the Contribution to the repayment of the social debt (CRDS). The National Assembly effectively examines, on Monday, a bill which takes into account, following the coronavirus crisis, the addition of 136 billion euros of debt to the "hole of the Safely", that the French will repay until 2033, nine years longer than expected.

Piketty says government doesn't want to reinstate wealth tax

“The CRDS is a piece of CSG (general social contribution) but which nevertheless represents 0.5% deducted each month from all wages, from the lowest to the highest. Normally, that had to stop (in 2024), that is to say that everyone would have had an increase in wages or pensions of 0.5%, "explained Thomas Piketty. However, “the principle of extending it for ten years has been adopted (…). The lack of contradiction is problematic, ”lamented the economist.

While "500 billion euros" have been spent to deal with the crisis, Emmanuel Macron on Sunday ruled out raising taxes to finance them. "We are not going to raise taxes" because the increase in taxation "discourages economic activity" and "kills household confidence", even added on Monday, the Minister of Public Accounts Gérald Darmanin on BFM TV / RMC.

. @ pikettylemonde: "Even Trump has journalists in front of him to ask him questions, with us the whole country is ordered to come at 8 p.m. in front of the TV to hear ... nothing at all." # le79inter pic.twitter.com/jTceLQhk5w

For Thomas Piketty, this commitment first means that the government does not want to restore the wealth tax (ISF). "But when it comes to increasing the tax on all French people and weighing on all wages ...", squeaks the author of the best-seller Capital in the 21st century , calling for "a renovated ISF" with leaves “prefilled” tax on assets to avoid under-reporting.

Invest heavily in education

“The main tax on property in France is the property tax (…). It is a very heavy tax, extremely unfair, which increases from year to year (…). The ISF corrected this a little, it was deleted ", while" a wealth tax of the richest 1% should bring in at least 10 billion euros "per year, said Thomas Piketty. The economist, specialist in wealth and tax inequalities, has also called for massive investment in education: “We need an investment plan in high schools, and especially in universities and technological training (…). This is very important: economic prosperity comes from this educational advance, and certainly not from this waste of resources that we have before us. "

Finally, Thomas Piketty pointed to the relative weakness of the recovery plan drawn up by Brussels. "A European plan of 500 billion euros [in the form of subsidies] is barely 3% of the GDP of the European Union, and as it will be spent over 5 or 6 years, in the end it is 0, 5% of GDP per year, "he relativized, while criticizing the" very opaque in the decision-making mode "of the investments chosen.

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