The President of the Republic himself announced that the “rail pass” would be tested in July and August 2024. Young people aged under 27 will be able, for 49 euros per month, to travel on Intercity trains and rail lines. night, outside Ile-de-France, the only region to be excluded from the system. This experiment imported from Germany will cost 15 million euros (80% paid by the State, 20% by the regions). Which is to say nothing at all, for an ecological and frankly very nice device. Why deprive yourself of it?
Except that. This rail pass arrives after the repair bonus, in place since 2022. This bonus is deducted directly from the invoice for the repair of household appliances, kitchen appliances, sports equipment, hi-fi equipment, smartphones, DIY or garden maintenance equipment… which do not benefit from a guarantee. Since the end of 2023, this system has been extended to clothing. The government website tells us that it is possible to recover 8 euros for installing a shoe pad or 7 euros for patching a hole. Tremendous ! The repair bonus is to consumer goods what MaPrimeRenov (which allows for example to change a heating system) is to housing or the ecological bonus for electric and hydrogen cars, to automobiles: aid to reduce the ecological footprint of household spending and thus contribute to the decarbonization of our economy. The aim is to encourage the French to move towards a more sustainable mode of consumption. How could we be against this laudable intention of our father the State?
Inconsistency of macroeconomic policy
Except that. This ecological aid comes after the culture pass, which since 2019 has allowed middle and high school students between 15 and 18 years old to benefit from a credit to spend on a cultural offer. It’s certainly an expense, but the culture pass only costs 200 million euros per year. It’s more than the rail pass but it’s barely a drop in the state budget. The primary use of this pass is for book purchases. An inexpensive device that helps young people and culture. How to be against it?
Taken together, these measures weigh on public finances. Adding more spoils the savings efforts that the State and Social Security are laboriously trying to make elsewhere. The signal sent is that of an inconsistency in our macroeconomic policy. But above all, this public management of household consumption encourages three of the worst failings of our country: the State as the solution to everything, the myth of free access and the redistributive passion. All these bonuses support the idea that for every problem or challenge there may be additional public spending. It is this idea which, fundamentally, explains the persistent degraded state of our public finances since there is always a good reason for new spending.
Feeling free
That the current government continues on this path is worrying for the future. All this aid artificially reduces the cost of household consumption and even fuels a feeling of free access (the culture pass) under the magical effect of State action. Bruno Le Maire is right to have made the fight against the illusion of free access his new hobby horse, but the adoption of the rail pass hardly helps him in this noble task.
Finally, it is curious to add redistribution mechanisms in the country which, according to the OECD, is already the most redistributive among developed nations. If we consider that this redistribution harms certain categories such as young people compared to, for example, retirees, does it not make more sense to pay teachers better? In any case, it would be wise for this majority which was not elected to pursue a socialist policy to take a break from this costly infantilization of citizens reduced to their function as consumers.
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