Esther Duflo, Nobel Prize winner in economics, in favor of the restoration of the wealth tax

Economist Esther Duflo, 2019 Nobel Prize winner in economics, declared herself in favor this Tuesday of the re-establishment of the wealth tax (ISF) in France. She considers this measure “ reasonable ” to tax income from wealth “ in the same way as wages ”.

“ My opinion on the ISF is that it should never have been abolished. Today, therefore, I think it must be restored, ”said professor on RTL at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Redistribute to the lowest income

" The wealth tax is a reasonable tax, not at all extreme or radical ", assured the author, with her husband Abhijit Banerjee, of the book " Useful economy for difficult times ", published this spring by Editions du Seuil . According to Esther Duflo, income from the great wealth is effectively " not taxed like income from wages ".

" We must redistribute towards the lowest incomes ," explained the Nobel Prize winner, who notably advocated that short-time working - a measure taken by the French government to cushion the shock of the consequences of the Covid-19 health crisis - " either much more compensated for the poorest than for the richest ”.

A demagogic tax, for Bruno Le Maire

In recent weeks, the Minister of Finance, Bruno Le Maire, has repeatedly opposed the reinstatement of the wealth tax (ISF), removed in 2018 by the government.

Last week, the minister explained: “ It is very easy to restore the wealth tax. If I wanted to be popular, I would go tomorrow to announce (...) we will reinstate a 'tax on the rich' and France will be better. But it's not true, it's a pure lie, it's pure demagoguery: we did it for years, it didn't work, it didn't enrich France, it didn't improve prosperity".