Better to share the wealth ? The crisis of the Covid-19 restart the debate

Restore the ISF, do more to benefit the employees of the value created by enterprises: at a time when the crisis puts troubled many French people, especially the most vulnerable, the voices were raised calling for a better sharing of wealth.

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"The crisis recovery these debates, because in a sense it exacerbates inequalities that preexist", with people in the occupations with low status prior to the outbreak which is found in the first line, ahead of Lucas Chancel, co-director of the laboratory on global inequality at the Paris School of economics. "We realize that our wage hierarchy, does may not be what really counts in our societies", he adds.

The government has promised to re-evaluate the salaries of health workers and asked the companies to pay bonuses to employees in the first line in the containment, such as those of the large-scale distribution. But for some economists and policy makers, it is necessary to go beyond that and the crisis should make people think on a more important contribution of the richest to pass the course.

To the extent that several reports of economists have shown that low-income households had not been the most winning of the increase of purchasing power from 2018. If France, with its social model, is one of the European countries where inequalities are less marked, 5% of the French own a third of the heritage, gross of all households, according to a recent study by Insee.

"Tax due"

the parties of The left in the trade union movement, passing by the Nobel prize-winning economist Esther Duflo, many are advocating for the reinstatement of the Tax on wealth (ISF) deleted by Emmanuel Macron and replaced by a tax on the real estate asset (IFI) at the beginning of the quinquennium.

"The tax on wealth is a tax-reasonable, not extreme or radical," and "it should never have been abolished," said Esther Duflo. "Pure demagoguery," said Economy minister Bruno Le Maire, who don't want a tax increase, while the Medef considers that the restore would be a "very bad signal".

other proposals tax crisis have emerged, such as that of the head of the CFDT Laurent Berger for a "windfall tax" on companies, which have not been affected by the outbreak and containment.

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

These last few weeks, first movements have been made: some leaders have decreased their compensation when a portion of their employees was on partial unemployment and of companies have suspended or reduced the payment of dividends, may be forced by the government, which has made it a condition of their support.

The old idea of general de Gaulle on the participation of wages in enterprises has also emerged, and by the voice of the minister of the public Accounts Gérald Darmanin.

Distribute impoverishment

"This is a major topic of social justice and, for companies, motivation and efficiency", writes the economist Nicolas Bouzou, president of the firm Asterès. Various devices currently exist for involving employees in the financial success of businesses, through incentive awards, or savings plans of the company.

For Nicolas Bouzou, the employee share ownership "works very well in certain areas", such as the building, and it argues for a development of these devices.

"It is true that corporate profits will decline this year, but we are in an exceptional situation with a depletion which is going to be important", he states: "it is necessary to somehow allocate this loss better and ensure that those who are already the least advantaged suffer the least".

To Lucas Chancel, the real debate, "it is the question of inequality on issues of power" within companies. He pleads for a "better representation" in the organs which decide the evolution of wages, amounts paid in dividends, etc

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

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