I thought this might come up here, but it never did. I kind of expected the more conservative crowd to grab it and ride it as another example of "how Europe sucks". - and the Ayn Rand fans a chance to call her prophetic...

The newly elected Socialist President François Hollande promised he'd place a 75% income tax on the richest in the country, and got ready to implement it.

Even during the elections, it was expected that this would cause the most wealthy to leave the country, and to invest elsewhere, and the Brit's got ready to welcome them. Frankly, I don't understand those who ignored that perfectly evident outcome.... apparently they were betting on the pure nationalistic spirit and desire to aid ones country

So the first big publicized action came from Gerard Depardieu, famed french actor and one of the richest men in France. Besides his successful acting career, he owns restaurants, hotels, vineyards.....
He decided he would pack up and move to Belgium and change nationalities.
This made an uproar of criticism from the political arena, which he reacted strongly against.
Putin heard all this and took the opportunity to grab some press- he offered Russian citizenship to Depardieu, inviting him to move to Russia (where the income taxes are a flat 13% rate. )

This seems to have worked- the french government have pulled back on the new tax rate and will lower it.

It's not exactly Atlas shrugging....... but the concept is there. Depardieu is an actor- not an engineer, and seeing his pasty obese body pushed around in a wheelchair brings to my mind the fruit of obsessive consumption more than brainy investment and development for the nation.
Buts he's got the money now- we gave it to actors and soccer players, Mc Donalds and KFC, bread and circuses...... the people have spoken and now we have to bend to them and recognize they have us by the balls.

I am personally against the Socialist party, and hate Hollande and found his tax idea stupid from the beginning... but still, as the rest of the people are accepting that they will cut back on their (already frugal, from an american pont of view) way of life, and suffer, to help save Europe from the countries that screwed up, people like him making a fuss because he might have to cut down on the number of mansions he has kind of strikes me as tasteless. He would have done better to move out as quietly as possible. But then maybe they wouldn't have put a stop to the implication of this ridiculous tax!

Back when I started working the US marginal rate on the highest wage earners was 70% - British rock stars flocked here to avoid the UKs 95% marginal rate on high income wage earners. Today, there are so many concessions for multinational corporations, trusts, etc. that GOOGLEs tax avoidance in the UK is making the news.
How did we go from those rates in 1965 to what we have today and still provide infrastructure support and services - wait I remember - back then our economy used to be solvent!

ganjoa

It was the French Constitutional Council who found an "unconstitutional" flaw in the proposals, hence the obligation to re-work. I am not wholly familiar with France’s tax regime to work out what the problem was.

However, President Hollande has this tax hike as a centre point of his popularist presidential campaign, so has to do something as he has a reputation to uphold.

I believe that everyone should be taxed the same as that is equal. Not sure why there is this obsession with taxing rich people more as they put into the system vastly more than they take out. I would much prefer the State reduce waste, like subsidising wind farms.

Regards

I don't know, I am surprised to observe my own feelings on this right now.

I have, for a long time, believed in the idea that he rich are putting into the system much more than they take out.
I was little when Reaganomics went into effect, but I saw that it seemed to work as expected- back then.

But now? The corporations are so big that trickle down is not going into the same country it came from! They are outsourcing, they put their factories elsewhere, the money trickles down to people in other countries, and in lesser amounts because those people agree to work for less.

I guess without putting much thought into it (which, lets be honest few people do) when you are lower middle class, and you are really feeling the effects of the effort to save nation and neighbors, it starts to make sense to take more from those who have more.

Because consider that even at a flat rate, the necessities for survival start to get touched for the poorer ones, and not even close for the richer!
If, say, 30% flat means one family cannot afford housing or food for their kids, and for another it means one less car out of their numerous ones, you start to ask how fair this "collective national effort" really is!

Right now, the price of fuel went up so much this year with taxes on it, and our pay went down so much, we cannot afford fuel for heating our home, and up here in below zero weather right now, it is hard to live without heat. I find myself wondering how fair that is that I have to wear an anorack in my home all day while people like Depardieu aren't even feeling the impact of that at all.

Originally posted by Bluesma
I thought this might come up here, but it never did. I kind of expected the more conservative crowd to grab it and ride it as another example of "how Europe sucks". - and the Ayn Rand fans a chance to call her prophetic...

The newly elected Socialist President François Hollande promised he'd place a 75% income tax on the richest in the country, and got ready to implement it.

Even during the elections, it was expected that this would cause the most wealthy to leave the country, and to invest elsewhere, and the Brit's got ready to welcome them. Frankly, I don't understand those who ignored that perfectly evident outcome.... apparently they were betting on the pure nationalistic spirit and desire to aid ones country

So the first big publicized action came from Gerard Depardieu, famed french actor and one of the richest men in France. Besides his successful acting career, he owns restaurants, hotels, vineyards.....
He decided he would pack up and move to Belgium and change nationalities.
This made an uproar of criticism from the political arena, which he reacted strongly against.
Putin heard all this and took the opportunity to grab some press- he offered Russian citizenship to Depardieu, inviting him to move to Russia (where the income taxes are a flat 13% rate. )

This seems to have worked- the french government have pulled back on the new tax rate and will lower it.

It's not exactly Atlas shrugging....... but the concept is there. Depardieu is an actor- not an engineer, and seeing his pasty obese body pushed around in a wheelchair brings to my mind the fruit of obsessive consumption more than brainy investment and development for the nation.
Buts he's got the money now- we gave it to actors and soccer players, Mc Donalds and KFC, bread and circuses...... the people have spoken and now we have to bend to them and recognize they have us by the balls.

I am personally against the Socialist party, and hate Hollande and found his tax idea stupid from the beginning... but still, as the rest of the people are accepting that they will cut back on their (already frugal, from an american pont of view) way of life, and suffer, to help save Europe from the countries that screwed up, people like him making a fuss because he might have to cut down on the number of mansions he has kind of strikes me as tasteless. He would have done better to move out as quietly as possible. But then maybe they wouldn't have put a stop to the implication of this ridiculous tax!

edit on 5-1-2013 by Bluesma because: (no reason given)

The worst thing about this according to the latest news on all French MSM is that Gerard Depardieu has been offered not only a Russian Passport but also a free house and has been invited to become a minister of culture for the local parlement, (apparently the town that he will be living in is about the same size as the town of Blois in France (Google Blois if you are not from France for more details) He is currently being paraded around Russian TV and quite simply LOOKS like a clown (or should i say looks like a puppet (you can nearly see the strings!!! j/k))!. AND apparently this town is the one that has the largest prison ratio... (Good political move from Putin taking into consideration the recent different political indifferences between him and the French Gvt and other European countries at this moment).

I need to delve more into detail if people are interested in this story (but i will keep politics out of it)

For extra info : BRIDGIT BARDOT has also warned France that she may also move to Russia because of a problem concerning 2 possible sick elephants in a zoo in the town of Lyon who are menaced with euthanasia... she has stated that France is becoming an animals graveyard...

My point of view :

2 VERY arrogant people who of course have contributed to French and world culture but sadly MONEY has taken over the grey matter.

Kindest respects

Rodinus