Pensions for microentrepreneurs: senators warn of a “ticking time bomb”
Alert on the retirement of microentrepreneurs. During the night of Monday to Tuesday, the senators called for defusing the “time bomb” constituted by the social system of these independents, explaining that it does not allow access to a good level of retirement.
“The question is to prevent poor workers from becoming poor retirees”, explained the socialist senator from Nièvre, Patrick Joly, during the debates on pension reform .
Designed to make life easier for those who start a small entrepreneurial activity, the status of microenterprise offers “many advantages”, recognized the senator, Nathalie Delattre (RDSE) but also has “serious disadvantages, mainly in terms of pensions”. . And the chosen one to deplore “very, very low” pension rights.
Minimum old age
Often generating a low turnover, microentrepreneurs are not obliged to pay a minimum old-age contribution. Moreover, many microentrepreneurs, especially those working for Internet platforms, do not declare all their income.
The question of the retirement of microentrepreneurs has already been pointed out by the High Council for the financing of social protection: “40% of microentrepreneurs do not validate any right to retirement”, underlined this group of Social Security experts in a report published in 2020.
Admittedly, not all microentrepreneurs retain this status for life and some workers carry out this type of activity only as an accessory. However, “under current conditions, new forms of work (digital platforms and others…) will ultimately mean that hundreds of thousands of people will be at least old age”, warn socialist senators.
The “fairly reserved” government
Like the elected members of the RDSE group, from the left-wing radicals, they asked the government by means of an amendment to submit a report to Parliament on how microentrepreneurs could be obliged to pay a minimum pension contribution, like the others independent.
“It’s a real subject,” acknowledged the Minister of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal, who gave his blessing to the adoption of the amendments requesting a report on this issue. However, the Minister declared himself “fairly reserved” on the establishment of a minimum contribution for microentrepreneurs.
“There is a risk that we will have a high level of levy for low wages,” he argued. “There is a risk of sending back to non-declaration certain activities which today are declared by the micro-enterprise regime”, he added.
National solidarity
“The question is: could part of this minimum old-age contribution be covered by national solidarity, as is the case for employees at the same level of income with the reductions on the low wages ? remarks Dominique Libault, the president of the High Council for the financing of social protection.
“It’s good that the subject is identified,” he greets, in any case. “Today we have people who work and who, without reform, do not have the prospect of having a full pension before the age of 67 because they will miss quarters. »
Withholding tax
The Minister of Public Accounts also indicated during the debates that a plan on fraud presented “in the coming weeks” could make it possible to better recover the contributions of self-employed workers on digital platforms. “Perhaps via a withholding system, with a contribution from the platforms directly for these workers. »
