The French Don’t Have an American Dream
The so-called “millionaires' tax” has become a symbol of Hollande’s campaign promise to make France fairer for the middle class by forcing the mega-rich to do more to pull the country out of crisis.
The government’s initial plan consisting of a 75-percent tax to be paid by high earners on the part of their incomes exceeding 1 million euros was struck down in December 2012 by members of the Constitutional Council, who argued that 66 percent was the legal maximum for individuals.
The Socialist government has since reworked the tax to levy it on companies instead, infuriating business leaders and football clubs.
Under its new design, which the Council found constitutional, the tax will be an exceptional 50 percent levy on the portion of wages exceeding 1 million euros paid in 2013 and 2014.
Including social contributions, its rate will effectively remain roughly 75 percent. The tax will, however, be capped at 5 percent of the company’s turnover.
The Council, a court made up of judges and former French presidents, has the power to annul laws if they are deemed to violate the constitution.
The Tax more than $1.38 million a year. The court had ruled the tax unconstitutional, but French legislators reworked the law so that firms rather than individuals will be liable. Top-earning soccer clubs went on strike to protest the tax earlier this year, and actor (more like comedian, He always made me laugh but nothing else) Gerard Depardieu. He left the country for Russia, where he pays very little tax but earns no money. Polls indicate that a majority of voters support the tax, which aims to reduce income inequality and budget deficits, even if they do not support Hollande, who has suffered some of the lowest approval ratings of any French leader in decades.
I don’t know if this tax will bring more financial equality but the truth is that just like the USA the rich become richer every year and the poor poorest. The way to fix this is to make a fairer distribution of income. You can’t take made money away and you can’t just give money away either. But you can fix the financial system that CEO’s only make money when their companies make money and the money they make both the company and the people running them pay fair taxes on them.
This joke of having companies paying zero taxes because they do have great accounting making holes where there are none and making sure that every hole is plug by their fat buds. Those are abuses which the government allows the companies to take advantage of with the theme song of companies ‘make jobs'. If we tax them they wont make jobs or they will take the jobs away.
First I will like to see big companies without employees. We don’t have those kind of drones yet. As for taking the jobs else where that is easily plugged by taking advantage of taxes where ever they go or do a ‘good bye tax’. The government made the holes for the rich, I will think that they know where the holes are and can be plugged. That job can be given to he accountants and economists that can figure out what the disparity is, and where the gauges should be set to achieve fairness.
What happened in France will happen here with another meltdown that makes the people that got burnt on the last melt down get burnt again and going through a period of double the unemployment we have now. The french don’t have sayings that if everybody worked hard they will get a dream that will make them get fed, clothed, educated and kept healthy.That is purely american like apple pie.
The french know who is making the money and is not the populace. The money is going to the richest there and just a small percentages going average french.
Same in the US but we have more resources than the french. We also have wine and cheese but we also have energy, high productivity for those that have jobs and the technology to make things go. From cars to computers to airplanes. The problem here is that people believe the politicians. All the polls say that trust in the politicians and congress is at all time low, yet people are invested in the party in power and they believe that if we don’t have enough weapons to kill thousands and millions we are going to have a 9/11 every few years. In NYC there was a billionaire that sold himself as the man to fix NYC after 9/11 and had the law limiting to 2 terms changed so he alone could run for a third term.
You would figure people would be so pissed at this queer outrage that they would vote against him and the city council that changed the city charter to allow this will be run out of Manhattan. Nope he won with a good plurality. He made the city more pletty, more trees, more bikes, less salt, sugar and trans-fats But the poor got worse off, underemployment still high, schools are easily beaten by other states and nations in learning. Try an emergency room in the city and unless the ambulance brought you in half dead you will become half dead in the waiting room of the hospital. Rents go up an average of 4.5% every year and you simply cannot afford to live here unless you make a minimum of $28,000 for a single unmarried without kids individual.
Homicides have gone in down the city but when you have 104* fever and it goes down to 102* you still have a fever and if they don’t find where is coming from you will probably die. There is plenty of hate crimes, despite a hate crimes unit you saw hate crimes against gays to up through the roof. But people still go get up in the morning and put on their gear to either go to work for a job that can barely support them unless they have a second one or just go to the unemployment office.
People are grateful to bitch and do nothing, sometimes even giving up at voting. Grateful to have a piece of floor on the train to stand or the bus to eventually come and get them where they are going. I don’t understand it. I think people have been told for so long that things here are good and better than other places that they believe it even if they have never traveled to anywhere abroad.
Yes this country is beautiful, New York is beautiful and I am glad that we have a good constitution compared to other places. I am glad that we have a strong central government that have made us stable instead of worrying if a general is going to take over or the people for equal rights for the iguana or for giving gun to kids to protect themselves against school killings will win the presidency ( or may be they did win at one time or the other but somehow the damaged was limited to killings outside of the country).
I am as much american as anybody else but at this pace one day we will have to face what we face when we wouldn’t stop slavery on the South. If we don’t control injustices eventually those injustices will control our events.
We shall be watching the French and see how they make out, but somehow I think that the commission they have of retired politicians to review unconstitutional laws will eventually raise one of their fingers and say “arrêter la folio” and the tax will be a thing of the past.
I wish you a happy new year, hope 2014 will be a better year for all of us. I am hopeful have not lost the faith!
Adam Gonzalez, Publisher
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