| 31 August 2008
Arise, M Sarkozy-Colbert, you have joined the immortal Pantheon of Princes
of Taxation.
What is it with the French and tax? They just can't seem to leave the economy
alone for more than five minutes.
Although they are not the highest taxed country on earth - the lugubrious Scandinavians
occupy the top spots - the French are well up there at number four. In 1965
the government took just 35% of GDP (high, for the time). By 2003 they had reached
45%, and any moment now they will top 50%.
M Sarkozy hardly lets a month go by without proposing a new tax. This year
alone we have had the RSA (Revenue Solidarite Active), a global windfall tax
on oil companies' profits, a tax on internet connections, mobile phone usage
and a levy on the advertising revenues of commercial television stations, increased
taxes on the use of materials currently contributing to global warming, and
an increase in the tax on stock options.
After last week's announcement of the RSA, business chief Laurence Parisot
said: "You can't just increase taxes - or add new ones - every time you need
to fulfill a new objective. If we add up everything that has been decided by
the government in recent times, there's ground to get worried."
But they have cloth ears at the Elysee.
You have been reading an entry on the following blog:
Jeremy Hetherington-Gore Unleashed
Jeremy tackles the difficult issues head on!
Contact: jeremy@lowtax.net
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