Economist Thomas Piketty said on Monday that, contrary to President Emmanuel Macron's commitment not to increase taxation, a tax hike had already taken place with the extension of a levy intended to repay social debt. "What bothers me is all the unspoken. (Emmanuel Macron) tells us, for example, 'I'm not going to raise taxes'. Except that in fact, we have already raised them", a hammered the economist on France Inter.
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The lack of contradiction on the CRDS is problematic
Thomas Piketty pointed to the recent extension over almost ten years of the collection of the contribution to the reimbursement of the social debt (CRDS). The National Assembly 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", which the French will thus repay until in 2033, nine years more than expected.
"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 a 0.5% increase in wages or pensions, "said Thomas Piketty. However, "the principle of extending it for ten years has been adopted (...). The absence of contradiction is problematic", he deplored.
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Piketty calls for "a renovated ISF"
While "500 billion euros" were spent to deal with the crisis, Emmanuel Macron on Sunday ruled out raising taxes to finance them. 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 Le Capital au XXIe siècle , calling for "a renovated ISF" with "prefilled" tax sheets on assets to avoid under-reporting.
"The main tax on heritage in France is the property tax (...). It is a very heavy tax, extremely unfair, which increases from year to year (...). The ISF corrected a little that, it has been removed ", while" a wealth tax of the richest 1% should bring in at least 10 billion euros "per year, said Thomas Piketty.