The high price of French social welfare｜The misunderstanding in Paris

This is an article written during the "Yellow Vests" movement two and a half years ago. Although it is an old article, the social welfare situation has not changed much in the past two years. If you haven't read it, consider it a new article! What I am very interested in social welfare is that I once stayed in the 18th district of Paris for two or three days. Every day I went out, I saw a group of people (mostly people of color) waiting in line at the entrance of an institution to go in and apply for subsidies. At that time, I wanted to say that they were so diligent when looking for a job? But I really don't feel fit to be French XD

It should be my penultimate yellow vest related article. The original media is no longer there, so I just posted it.

Whether or not the "yellow vest" movement in Paris can end, the world has already seen the economic and political predicament of the French. Living in the romantic flower capital Paris is expensive, but every year there are many immigrants flocking here. Is it because of the generosity of social welfare? And what kind of predicament did the French people have caused by the high taxes passed on to the people in order to pay social welfare?

As early as 2013, the continent was discussing the social welfare that France is so proud of, which would create a crisis. The New York Times has also made a series of reports, mentioning that France's social democratic system provides its citizens with a stable and high standard of life, and France is also proud of this, but in the face of globalization, an aging population and recent In the midst of a severe fiscal shock, the question of whether such a system can be sustained becomes a big question.

I work in Paris for a few hours before I can eat a meal? 〉The article mentioned that the protesters cannot exchange their work for dignity, but at the same time the French government used taxes to support a group of up to 7 million unemployed people. It is conceivable that such an unfair system has caused public dissatisfaction, so this article Coming to discuss social welfare in France.

Many people still remember that in 2012, the French national treasure actor Gerard Depardieu chose to give up his French citizenship because he could not bear the huge tax bill. At that time, he said that he had worked and been in business in France for 45 years, and paid a total of 145 million euros in taxes to the national treasury ; in that year (2012) alone, he paid 85% of his income as taxes. So buy a house in the Belgian town of Nechin and go through the formalities of residency in Belgium to avoid France's dreaded wealthy tax.

Problems caused by Macron's reduction in taxes on the wealthy?

There are also many media discussions that the French public thinks Macron is the "president of the rich" and does not understand the difficulties of the poor at all. After he took office, in order to stimulate the economy, he cut taxes for the rich in the first year. The most controversial of which was the abolition of taxation on various assets of the richest French families, and taxation only on the real estate of the rich, which made France's taxation this year. A decrease of 3.2 billion euros (about 110 billion Taiwan dollars).

In order to "make up for the 3.2 billion euros in taxes, turning to raising oil taxes" has become the most direct idea of the public. It is also an important fuse that triggered the yellow vest demonstrations. When the rich enjoyed tax cuts, the purchasing power of the poorest 5% of French households decreased last year, and the purchasing power of the middle 70% of households did not increase or decrease.

Macron knows that his approval rating is declining. The 2019 budget announced in October will cut taxes by 6 billion euros (about 210 billion Taiwan dollars) for low- and middle-income workers next year, and reduce taxes on other business taxes by 18.8 billion euros (about 18.8 billion euros). TWD 660 billion) to promote employment and investment.

With 14% of people living below the poverty line, how should social benefits be paid when taxes are insufficient?

Previous articleHow many hours do you have to work in Paris to eat a meal? 〉 He also mentioned that even if these people have jobs, they cannot pay all their living expenses, and they may even be in debt after working overtime. In its poverty survey earlier this year, Secours Catholique explained that poor households living in peri-urban and smaller urban areas have become increasingly burdened as rents have risen and incomes have stagnated over the past five years. Heavy. Nearly 70 percent of these households are behind on taxes, loans, unpaid bills for insurance and mutual insurance (mutuelle), or overdraft their bank accounts due to increased transportation costs to work, among other things.

This survey also fits the media's description of the "yellow vest" protesters - laborers living in the suburbs.

In addition, if the monthly income in France is less than 1,015 euros, which translates to about 37,000 Taiwan dollars (equivalent to the median salary of Taiwanese), even if it is poor, there are currently 8.8 million French people living below the poverty line, accounting for 14% of the total population. %. In order to fight poverty, Macron also announced in September this year that he would implement an 8 billion euro poverty alleviation plan, including providing free breakfast for children from low-income households, arranging for young people who drop out of school under the age of 18 to receive vocational training, and adding childcare institutions to allow parents Return to work and more.

The cruel fact, if the people's income is low, where will the government find funds to pay?

GDP growth is negative, while taxes account for 46.2%

Since the 2008 global financial crisis, French GDP growth in dollar terms has been negative. In 2008, France's GDP was 2.918 trillion US dollars , and this value fell to 2.583 trillion US dollars in 2017, a decrease of about 11.55%, which is equivalent to a "lost decade".

With negative economic growth, France has not only done little in new economic fields such as the Internet, but traditional advantageous industries such as high-speed rail, large aircraft, nuclear power, and military industries have gradually been replaced by emerging countries, and luxury goods have become a symbol of France. The gap between the rich and the poor in France is still widening, which is the main reason for social contradictions.

Income growth for low- and middle-income earners is less than 1 percent a year, compared with about 3 percent for high-income earners; the income of the richest 20 percent is almost five times that of the poorest 20 percent. What is scary is that among the 36 OECD countries, France's tax-to-GDP ratio reached 46.2% in 2017, far exceeding the average level of 34.2%, ranking first.

On the surface, France is on a par with Germany in the EU, but its economic development has already reached a bottleneck. According to the statistics of the World Bank, the economic growth rate of France after the European debt crisis is only in the range of about 0.1% and 1.1%, and the unemployment rate is hovering at 9 to 10%, causing social instability. What's more, in the past ten years, the youth unemployment rate in France has been as high as 20% for a long time, which is much higher than that of OECD countries such as Germany (6.8%), the Czech Republic (8%) and Denmark (11.1%). Therefore, the recent riots in France Many young people took to the streets to vent their dissatisfaction with the establishment.

Finally, let's see if social benefits are reasonable

French social welfare is generous, and more than one third of its economic output is spent on social welfare. In 2016, France spent a total of 715 billion euros (about 25 trillion Taiwan dollars) on benefits such as health insurance, family allowances and unemployment benefits. French laborers also pay a considerable price, in addition to paying income tax, when purchasing most goods, they have to pay a 20% value-added tax on the price.

According to the current system in France, you must be completely unemployed in order to receive assistance. Therefore, we can also see "temporary workers" who occasionally work but ask for cash in the movies. Only if there is no work record at all can they receive assistance. As a result, the proportion of working and non-working people in France is evenly divided, and the taxes paid by 50% of the working population must be used to support the entire French people.

The world's impression of the French in the past - superior medical insurance and pension system, many French people will retire at the age of 60 or earlier, five or six weeks of vacation every summer is the norm, full-time employees work 35 hours a week... Wait, maybe it will become the past tense in the near future.

Interestingly, the May student movement in 1968, the French sociologist Alain. Alain Touraine once said: "Social resistance and conflict of interest do not only occur in factories, but also wherever society is trying to change."

Related reading: "Yellow vests" evolve from democracy to populism

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