Released, issued the French taxpayer? This Friday, July 18 is considered to be the “tax liberation day”, according to a study carried out by the Economic Institute Molinari (IEM), a liberal think tank. This means that from today, the French employee who earns an average salary, single and childless, has finished paying all employee and employer contributions, income tax and taxes, of VAT. To summarize, he begins to work for himself, and no longer for the State, and to recover what he wins. We explain to you.
Who invented this concept?
This concept dates from 1948 and was invented by Dallas Hostetler, an American businessman. He deposits a copyright for this “Freedom Day tax”, since sold to the Think Tank Tax Foundation, which operates the calculation each year for the United States.
The concept was then resumed in a work in 1980 by the economist defender of Milton Friedman liberalism, who proposes to make this day an American national holiday.
What is the objective of this “liberation day”?
“The objective of this study is to estimate the social and fiscal pressure which really weighs on the average employee in each of the 27 member countries of the European Union as well as in the United Kingdom,” explains the IEM on its website.
And to add: “the percentages not being talking to all, the calculation is reported to a year to deduct the moment from which the average employee covers the freedom to use, as he wants, his purchasing power, by consuming or saving”.
How is this indicator calculated?
“This cost is established by aggregating the main taxes or charges which it supports, directly or indirectly: social charges (employers and employees), income and VAT tax,” explains the Economic Institute Molinari.
These charges and taxes are then reported to the employee’s “full salary”. This indicator, also called “Super-Brut”, corresponds to the net salary to which are added the salary and employer contributions paid. This is what an employee costs his employer.
Where is France?
France is the only one with a day of tax release falling on July 18. Behind, Belgium “releases” on July 16 and Austria on July 14.
Over a year, France lost “a day of fiscal and social release”, according to the Molinari Institute, due to an increase in compulsory social security contributions. “Taxation on the average employee is 54.4 % of the full salary when we take into account social contributions, the CSG and the CRDS, income and VAT tax which reduce its purchasing power,” explains the study.
Who celebrates this day?
On social networks, this date is a party for the now famous Nicolas, an archetype invented to designate the French taxpayer “good pear”. It has become the same on social networks for the liberal right or even the extreme right.
“Here Nicolas has paid” can be read on the “Nicolas who pays” page, even offering to broadcast posters and stickers using the hashtag “Nicollage” for this day of “Liberation”.
What are the limits?
This concept has limits, especially in its calculation method, as recalled The world From 2015. First of all, it is an average, which therefore does not take into account the differences between taxpayers. The latter do not all pay an equivalent sum of taxes. In addition, establish an average “by taxpayer” by mixing employer, salary, income tax or VAT and even the VAT of samples that do not have the same plates, nor the same criteria. The concept of “super-breakfast” is also little used by economists, reports everyday life.
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Finally, these compulsory levies allow the financing of public services, the French social protection model, redistribution, pensions … so many gains for the taxpayer who are not quantified.
