For Oxfam, the current rise in inequality is “fundamentally political”

A tax on high wealth is still in the pipeline for the next budget. And if Barnier had imagined it exceptional, the Bayrou government envisages it rather in a lasting manner, to be inserted between the flat tax and the real estate wealth tax (IFI). It would aim to bring in a few billion euros in additional revenue, a form of return from the ISF which would not say its name.

« We would never have imagined ten or fifteen years ago right-wing personalities like Bayrou or Barnier talking about tax justice, remarks Layla Abdelké Yakoub, tax justice and inequalities advocacy manager at Oxfam France. This represents a symbolic victory, but above all it means that inequalities have become so unbearable that the executive can no longer do otherwise », continues the author of a report on the subject, published this Monday.

Billionaires’ wealth increased by $2 trillion in 2024

Indeed, globally, the wealth of billionaires increased by $2,000 billion in 2024, Oxfam claims in this new study. As the luxury sector is struggling a little, the participation of the extremely wealthy French in these record figures is a little less flamboyant. “ Bernard Arnault even saw his financial assets melt by 50 billion euros, points out Layla Abdelké Yakoub. But hey, even if he lost 99% of his fortune, he would still be a billionaire. »

In any case, the latest social portrait of France from INSEE clearly shows that the policy of Emmanuel Macron’s second term continues to widen inequalities. Just with the socio-fiscal measures taken, the richest 10% gained on average 280 euros over the year 2023, while all French people lost on average 50 euros and the poorest 10% 290 euros. Oxfam has calculated that a French person among the richest 1% earns in six days what one of his compatriots among the poorest 50% earns in a year.

« There is urgency, we are reaching a point where, according to a survey carried out last September, 78% of French people said they were in favor of higher taxation on the richestrecalls Layla Abdelké Yakoub. The government could not simply announce 50 billion additional savings, without making a minimum contribution from the richest. » It is still necessary that this contribution is not symbolic.

Because, little by little, the ambition of this tax is fading. Gabriel Zucman’s initial proposal, taken up by the New Popular Front, consists of taking 2% from the assets of billionaires, to bring in 15 to 20 billion euros. It would be the inspiration for a new “differential contribution on high assets”, which, according to information from Echoes taken from the cabinet of Amélie de Montchalin, Minister for Public Accounts, would have a rate limited to 0.5%, from which all other taxes would have already been subtracted.

As a result, the ambition is only to bring in 2 billion euros. Oxfam provides Bercy with 16 fiscal and ecological justice measures, capable of bringing 101 billion euros into public action coffers.