Posted on 11/01/2013 12:23:43 PM PDT by Kaslin
President Francois Hollande wants to balance the French deficit by taxing the rich, taxing the poor, taxing trucks, raising the VAT, and increasing the tax on corporations.
That policy blew sky high this week in a storm of riots by Brittany farmers.
Please consider French Gov't Backs down on Truck Tax After Riots
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Tuesday indefinitely suspended the introduction of a green tax on trucks following riots at the weekend in the Brittany region.
The move comes three days after a protest by hundreds of food producers, artisans and distributors in the western Brittany region ended in the worst riots in the area in years.
One person was seriously injured in clashes between police and a group of around 1,000 demonstrators, who blocked a national road with convoys of vehicles and tonnes of produce on Saturday in protest over the tax.
Bretons say the levy will squeeze the already wafer-thin margins of the region’s struggling chicken, pork and other food producers.
The protests were seen as the expression of growing frustration nation-wide with the escalating tax burden on businesses and households.
Taxes have risen 70 billion euros (96 billion dollars) in the past three years, as France battles to shrink its budget deficit.
The truck tax, which is to apply to all vehicles of over 3.5 tonnes that use French roads, aims to raise 1 billion euros a year towards the development of rail and river transportation.
French Way of Getting Your Message Across
Mr. Ayrault denied that the government had caved in to the protesters.
“To be courageous is not to be obstinate; it’s to listen and understand,” he said after a meeting with Breton lawmakers and several Cabinet Ministers.
In France, riots, strikes, and mass protests work.
This is the second time this week, and third time in a month that France rolled back a tax.
Hollande Backs Down on Ecotax, on a Tax on Savings, On Corporate Earnings
If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet.
That’s greedy government for you
Good for them! Maybe cause for another riot.
If American teams have any sense at all, they will raid the French teams for their best players.
I have one answer...............guillotine
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