Les enjeux du patrimoine et de sa transmission dans nos sociétés vieillissantes

Since the beginning of the 1980?s, our developed societies face a process of ?property accumulation?, that is both unprecedented, massive and particularly harmful for the economic growth, the equality of opportunities and the equity between generations. This process results in an increasing and unequal weight of wealth relatively to income, but also in an ?uptight accumulation behavior? by the elderly, who hold an inactive mass of low-risk wealth, a ?coming-back? of inheritance and bequest, received though later and later, and young households strongly constrained in their property projects. Even if decline in mortality at old age is not the sole reason of this process, due also to the slowdown of growth and to the mutations of capital, it has significantly contributed to worsen its effects. Remedying this situation is certainly not an easy task, as suggested by some examples of possible social and fiscal reforms. The analysis leads to sustain two coupled propositions of reforms : i) a social contribution of the third age (retirees) helping to finance the needs of the fourth age through a compulsory and inclusive long-term care insurance ; ii) the Taxfinh (Tax Family Inheritance) program, which proposes, first, to increase the rate and progressivity of only post-mortem transfers to children and the family for the 10%-15% wealthiest families and, second, to supply, as a counterpart, additional means to avoid this inheritance surtax, favoring both gifts (to family members or of professional assets) and charitable bequests, property consumption (real estate), or long-term productive investment of elderly savings. This program would be an answer to the daunting challenges of a noxious wealth situation, as well as to the present unpopularity of standard wealth transfer taxation.