Some of the main measures adopted at the end of the previous five-year period first benefited the wealthiest, revealed INSEE on Tuesday, November 22 on the occasion of the publication of its « Portrait social » from France.
For the population as a whole, the gain is €280 per year and per household, but this average hides very strong inequalities. Thus, if we cut the population into 10 brackets according to their level of income, we see that the people in the seventh and eighth highest brackets have benefited from a gain of up to €470 per year, what is more, called to last.
They take advantage of the lowering of the income tax schedule for 2020 and of the end of the disappearance of the housing tax of which, in 2021, only a portion remained for the wealthiest households. These two measures weigh heavily: in 2020 and 2021, they saved 5.3 and 5.7 billion euros respectively for the 15.3 and 17.2 million households concerned.
Sustainable measures also include the evolution of certain social minima. Some on the rise (including the minimum old age), for 520 million. Others down, because below inflation (family benefits, disabled adult allowance, housing aid, etc.), with a loss of purchasing power of 500 million. In total, the perennial gain for the poorest half of the population is only €90 per year.
For the poorest, a one-time gain
Finally, there is one-off aid (“energy” and “inflation” checks, revaluation of the back-to-school allowance, exceptional solidarity aid, etc.) which targeted the poorest households. But their total – 1.6 billion – is, once more, much lower than the reduction in income tax and the end of the housing tax which benefited the richest. For the 20% of the poorest households, it is the non-renewable measures that represent the main boost (€70) while the permanent measures only brought them €40. The wealthiest 30%, on the other hand, benefit from a gain of €440 that will last.
If INSEE does not take into account certain measures specific to the Covid crisis (compensation for partial activity, solidarity fund paid to the self-employed, etc.) it has, on the other hand, calculated the impact of the price increase. tobacco in 2020: an additional cost of €50 on average, so much more for smokers, which reduces the gains mentioned above.
