When it comes to Europe, everyone is envious of its high welfare, many people see European citizens, is the kind of work 6 hours a day, drink tea bubble bars, and every year have a few months of paid leave, can fly to the world for vacation, unemployment benefits are even higher than most people in other countries.
This impression is correct, but among the many high-welfare countries in Europe, there is also a super-high-welfare state - France.
Social welfare spending as a percentage of GDP in countries around the world: France 34.9%; Germany 27.6%, The United Kingdom 25%, Canada 23.1%, Australia 22.5%, the United States 21%. The world's largest expenditure on social welfare.
Such a high welfare france, the French people should be very happy, right?
<h1>The world's first welfare state</h1>
The cause of high welfare in modern France may be the idea of equality.
Equality seems to run through the blood of the old French, and in modern times, France has begun to evolve into various welfare systems, and since the 1980s, the French welfare system has been continuously improved.
French people have been able to enjoy welfare since they were born, and nearly 400 welfare systems, just a few of them are enough to surprise:
Tuition fees are free at almost any stage of education;
Unemployment benefits, generally more than 1,000 euros;
If you have children, you will give subsidies, the more children the higher the subsidies, people without children do not have to worry, single dogs also have subsidies of more than 400 euros.
There are also maternity allowances, school allowances, 150 days of leave per year...
Moreover, French social welfare is characterized by the fact that they can be enjoyed irrespective of nationality as long as there is legal residence status in France. 1 euro medical treatment, moving subsidies, in France is not a dream, the French people seem to be the main life of the daily life is to drink coffee, talk about love.
If you want to say why France has the strength to support such huge welfare, it has to start from modern France.
Modern France has experienced 300 years of colonial history, and then experienced hundreds of years of investment history, accumulating a large number of assets, and it is these assets that give France the courage of the world's first welfare state.
Since the 1980s, France has established almost the most complete welfare system in the world, never born into the ground, covering almost all parts of a person's life.
Such a happy social welfare, the French still seem to be "not satisfied", at every turn is strikes, marches, and even in recent years there is a paris in the largest "yellow vest movement" in 50 years, why is this?
<h1>Ii. The Fall of France</h1>
The French are happy, but they have to rule out the increasing cost of survival.
In 2012, French national treasure actor Gerald dePardieu chose to emigrate to Belgium, and the main reason for his immigration was the eyes of foreigners – unable to afford France's high taxes.
How high is the tax that allows a national treasure actor to choose the colonial way to evade the tax?
75%！ In 2012, taxes were as high as 85% of total revenue.
Taxes in Russia are as low as 13 percent, while taxes on American actors are only 28 percent.
It's no wonder that when if the IFOP survey company surveyed the polls, 40% of the people chose to understand gerald depardieu's immigration.
Of course, not all personal income taxes in France are 75%, otherwise the French really can't continue to live.
In general, taxes are paid at 10%-54%, and the higher the income, the more you pay. France's corporate income tax is about 36%, which is at the median level in Europe. France's fiscal revenue accounts for 40% of total GDP, which means that for every 100 yuan spent on society, 40 yuan will be handed over to the government.
Ordinary people's taxes are not as high as those of the rich, but they also definitely account for a large part of their monthly income.
The French yellow vest movement, which was caused by France's announcement of an increase in fuel taxes, was only a few euro cents of price increases, but the French people could not stand it.
Is it really just a few cents?
For the French, oil is the basic expense that people must spend every day to live normally, and constantly raising the fuel tax is actually squeezing the living space of ordinary people in France.
These few cents were only the trigger for the yellow vest movement, and the real reason was the uneven distribution that has always existed in France.
In the 1960s, household income below half the median national income accounted for 12% of the country's total household income, but in 2017 it increased to 30%, and the number of poor households exploded. The average French household pays 17.4 percent of their monthly rental income, while the poorest 10 percent spend 42 percent of their income on rent.
Between 2008 and 2016, the average annual purchasing power of French households fell by 440 euros, although the incomes of the rich and the poor fell together, but the wealth of the rich determined that they had a stronger ability to withstand the decline, and the poorest families could also enjoy various subsidies, as the middle and low classes, they were the victims of tax increases.
68% of the participants in the yellow vest movement are below the Median Income in France, the middle class, and the fuel tax has little impact on the wealthy, but for them, these rising and rising taxes have begun to significantly reduce their quality of life.
<h1>The future of France</h1>
France's welfare model, in the final analysis, is to consume their own future, have money to pay welfare, do not save money to do social development, resulting in a large number of French people are lazy and lazy, do not want to make progress.
It is precisely because of this that France will continue to make up its mind on taxation, resulting in an increasingly depressed economy and less and less popular recognition.
The French kindly tried to solve the biggest problem in human history with the idea of equality and high welfare, and the result was that they were rewarded with laziness and punishment, and they could only decline step by step, and it was almost impossible to get out of it.
The idea of equality does not mean equal pay for the same job, and the future road in France is by no means solved by continuing to improve welfare, and macron still has a long way to go in the future.
Author: Ming and Qing