Is Macron the president of the rich? The report published on Tuesday by INSEE sheds light on the policy conducted over the past two years of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency. Two years of crisis, between Covid-19 and soaring energy prices. And this observation, which will not necessarily delight the executive. “Permanent” measures, those that must be long-term, benefit the wealthiest. The most modest households, for their part, have mainly benefited from the “exceptional” measures, intended to be called into question in the long term.
In detail, taking into account long-term aid, on the one hand, such as the reduction in income tax in 2020, the continuation of the abolition of the housing tax in 2020 and 2021 or the revaluation of the minimum old age, and on the other hand, one-off aid, such as the inflation check or the energy check, these measures have made it possible to save 280 euros on average per year and per person in 2020 and 40 euros in 2021 for the beneficiaries.
Slight increase in the poverty rate
But “this increase mainly benefits the wealthiest half of the population, particularly concerned by the main long-term reforms implemented”, explains INSEE. The permanent measures “induce an increase in the standard of living of up to 470 euros annually on average” for the wealthiest households, “against 90 euros for the 50% most modest”. Exceptional aid, intended to mitigate the effects of the health crisis in 2020 and the rise in energy prices in 2021, was the main factor in raising the standard of living of the poorest 20%.
Among the reforms that weighed more on the most modest, the rise in tobacco prices, which reduced the standard of living of the French by 50 euros on average. 50 euros which obviously does not represent quite the same budget for a wealthy household as for a precarious household…
The permanent measures, implemented in 2020, contributed “overall to increasing the poverty rate by 0.3 points, but the exceptional measures of 2020 would have contributed to reducing the poverty rate by 0.5 points in 2020, but they have not been renewed in 2021″ summarizes INSEE. “The cumulative effect of all of these measures over 2021 is +0.1 point on the monetary poverty rate,” continued the Institute of Statistics.