To finance social protection, the Minister of Labor proposes taxing “retirees who can afford it”

This is an announcement that risks making the more than 17 million retired French people cringe. This Tuesday morning, the Minister responsible for Labor and Employment raised an idea according to which “Taxes and contributions could be considered on retirees who can afford them, depending on pension level”. The objective is to finance the autonomy branch of social protection. For Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, it’s a proposition “which we must look at and which we must discuss with parliamentarians”. This measure could complement the Senate's proposal to work seven additional hours, unpaid, for employees.

“We work 70 hours less than the Germans and 100 hours less than the European Union average”points out the Minister responsible for Employment, who however rules out the elimination of a public holiday. “The various lessons on uniform applications showed that this was not the best formula”adds the government representative. If additional working time was voted by parliamentarians, it could therefore be “10 minutes a week”.

“We need to stop seeing them as a homogeneous block”

“The financing of social protection falls too much on companies and workers, the burden must be better distributed, at the risk of dependence”adds Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, guest of the TF1 morning show. Concerning her proposal to involve the wealthiest seniors, the minister believes that “it could be 40% of retirees”. “We need to stop seeing them as a homogeneous block”she emphasizes. Although there have not yet been any parliamentary discussions on this initiative, she believes that “taxes and contributions” could apply to people whose retirement pension exceeds 2000, or even 2500 euros per month.

To finance social protection, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet considers that it is necessary to find “2.5 billion euros in a full year”. “If we add a contribution from retirees who can afford it, it would be between 500 and 800 million euros” which could be collected additionally. “We have to ask ourselves the question”she repeated, emphasizing that today there are “intergenerational solidarity” but there could also be “solidarity between seniors with those who can afford it”.