To finance the social model, Emmanuel Macron is talking about taxing "consumption"

This is an explosive new project that Emmanuel Macron hopes to launch in the coming months. This Tuesday, May 13, the head of state declared on TF1 that the financing of the French social model " relies too much on work," thus weighing heavily on the wallets of the employed, who are called upon to contribute. He therefore hopes that the government will organize "a social conference" to rework this issue.

To relieve the burden on workers, the head of state proposed seeking sources of financing other than labor alone, citing "consumption" as one of the alternatives. "I ask the government to initiate this project with all union and employer forces," he concluded. "When we look at our neighbors, some tax consumption more," he then added.

The head of state also called on TF1 to open a "social negotiation" on "the quality of work and the evolution of forms of work" while "more and more young people (...) do not want to be employees" and "more and more seniors" want to "work differently" . For Sophie Binet , general secretary of the CGT, whom he was confronted with during this interview, this has "already been done last year" , but "resulted in half-measures".

Also read : Budget: why the inflammatory subject of the “social VAT” is making a comeback in the debate

The president was also questioned about the cost of labor. "So that work pays," Michel Picon, president of the Union of Local Businesses (U2P), put forward a radical solution: abolishing the CSG (general social contribution, one of the main personal taxes in France) and the CRDS (contribution for the repayment of social debt). " The path that Mr. Picon is following, which is to say 'we must reduce the burden on work', is a good one ," replied Emmanuel Macron. "But I think that it is towards contributions that we must look rather than towards contributions." A reduction in contributions is widely supported by employers, who have been campaigning for several months for the introduction of a social VAT.

"France's biggest problem is that it doesn't produce enough," the president finally concluded, returning to his ministers' rhetoric on the employment rate in France. "We're playing a football competition. When the Germans are 11 on the pitch, we're 9. When the United States is 11, we're 8," he said.