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Better share wealth? The Covid-19 crisis reopens the debate

2020-06-05T20:30:57.365Z


For some economists and politicians, the crisis must reflect on a greater contribution of the wealthy to pass the course.


Restore the ISF, make employees benefit more from the value created by companies: at a time when the crisis is putting many French people in difficulty, in particular the most precarious, voices are rising to demand better sharing of wealth.

" The crisis is relaunching these debates because in a sense it is exacerbating preexisting inequalities ", with people in professions little valued before the epidemic who find themselves on the front line, advance Lucas Chancel, co-director of the laboratory on global inequalities at Paris School of Economics.

" We realize that our salary hierarchy may not correspond to what really matters in our societies, " he adds.

The government has promised to reassess the salaries of health workers and asked companies to pay bonuses to workers on the front lines during confinement, such as those of large distribution.

But for some economists and politicians, we must go further and the crisis must make us think about making a greater contribution from the wealthy to pass the course.

Especially since several reports from economists have shown that low-income households have not been the biggest winners in the rise in purchasing power since 2018.

If France, thanks to its social model, is one of the European countries where inequalities are the least marked, 5% of French people still hold a third of the gross heritage of all households, according to a recent study by INSEE.

" Reasonable tax " -

Many parties from the left to the trade union movement, including the Nobel Prize winner in economics Esther Duflo, plead for the restoration of the wealth tax (ISF) abolished by Emmanuel Macron and replaced by a wealth tax estate agent (IFI) at the start of the five-year term.

" The wealth tax is a reasonable tax, not at all extreme or radical " and " it should never have been abolished, " said Ms. Duflo. " Pure demagoguery " replied the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire, who does not want a tax hike, while Medef judges that restoring it would be " a very bad signal ".

Other crisis tax proposals have emerged, such as that of CFDT manager Laurent Berger of an “ exceptional tax ” on companies that have not been penalized by the epidemic and containment.

The question also arises within companies, to know how to share the profits between shareholders, employees and reinvestment needs.

In recent weeks, the first gestures have been made: certain leaders have reduced their remuneration when part of their employees were on short-time working and companies have suspended or reduced the payment of dividends, sometimes forced by the government which made it one of the conditions of his support.

The old idea of ​​General de Gaulle on employee participation in companies has also resurfaced, through the voice of the Minister of Public Accounts Gérald Darmanin.

- Distribute the depletion -

" This is a major subject of social justice and, for businesses, of motivation and efficiency, " says economist Nicolas Bouzou, president of the cabinet Asterès. Various systems currently exist for associating employees with the financial success of companies, via incentive bonuses or company savings plans.

For Nicolas Bouzou, employee shareholding " works very well in certain sectors ", such as construction, and he pleads for the development of these systems.

" It is true that corporate profits will drop this year, but we are still in an exceptional situation with an impoverishment that will be significant, " he says: " we have to sort of distribute this impoverishment as well as possible and ensure that those who are already the least fortunate suffer the least .

For Lucas Chancel, the real debate " is the question of inequalities on power issues " within companies. He pleads for a “ better representation of employees ” in the bodies where salary developments are decided, the amounts paid in dividends, etc.

During the 2008 crisis, the debate had already resurfaced. But for what results? There have been " some advances on financial transparency ", but overall " almost nothing has been done or almost ", judge Lucas Chancel.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2020-06-05

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