Asterix und Obelix!
Posted on 09/15/2013 4:07:55 PM PDT by SoFloFreeper
When Gérard Depardieu triggered a fiscal feud with the French government a few weeks ago, the media had fun recasting him in his movie role as the comic book character Obélix, a fat and superhumanly strong Gaulois who stands up to the Romans.
Now that the French movie star has abandoned the land of the Gauls to become a Russian citizen, his recent film role as the mad monk Rasputin is being evoked to put a cinematic image on a bizarre real-life drama that has become an affair of state.
...Depardieu's love for Russia cannot be indifferent to the country's flat 13% income tax rate, measurably lower than the 75% rate that France's socialist government will impose this year on income over a million euros. Depardieu, whose personal fortune is estimated at $200 million, at first bolted for Belgium to escape the tax. Now he has accepted the warm embrace of his friend Putin. France's constitutional court overturned the "supertax" on the rich, but the Socialist government intends to push forward with the measure.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Could it be, folks, that Russia--economically speaking--is now MORE FREE than Europe or America?
Just asking....
The European Union - the New Soviet Union?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM2Ql3wOGcU
Yes.
Russians had 75 to 80 years to get that socialist thingee right.
It took them that long, and lots and lots of dead Rooskies, to finally understand that it doesn’t work worth diddly.
In that respect, they are far and away ahead of the morons in this country.
If I were a way younger guy, I’d probably try to learn the language and see if a fortune could be made there. I hear some young Americans are doing just that.
At least I wouldn’t have a bunch of intolerant queers telling me I have to violate my religion to accommodate their perverse lifestyle.
This from a for real cold war guy. How things have changed.
(again).. WHO lost the cold war... and WHO WON it..?
Its getting there. Amazing fact is that average folks who had front row seats to the failure of socialist/communist ideas tend to not like them anymore. Something I fear we are about to see.
I have two (much younger) former students who have done just that. Love it, its cleaner, the street crime is a lot less, the weirdoes are keep pretty much at bay and the “chicks are hot” as they both said. If you are productive and normal you pretty much have it made. Hell one even belongs to a really cool gun club owned by some former soldiers that not only lets them bring their own weapons but has some Russian play toys to fire...
russia have a 13% flat tax?!?!!!!
I don’t know if its flat, but it is lower and a hell of a lot easier to deal with. And of course they also get money from the US for their space program since America the great space power has to hitch hike to the space station we built. (sorry that pisses me off)
“russia have a 13% flat tax?!?!!!!”
Yeppers, they do.
If you look at the story of the story of Joseph and his rise to becoming the viceroy of Egypt you will see that he suggests a 20% tax on crops. This was an actual lowering of the tax there at that time.
Even today non-collectivist economists agree that it should be not more than 19 or 20 percent.
If the total tax burden on the everyone could be not more than 20% the US economy would skyrocket.
Seems that Liberals and Globalists are the biggest haters of Russia right now.
If you would be born in the Soviet Union like me, can speak and read Russian newspapers like me, you wouldn’t post this. You have no idea how bad is for regular folks in Russia today. I’m not talking about 0.001% of the oligarchs but about middle class people. It takes an immigrant like me to appreciate the life in US. Yes, we have a big problem in our country and you know why? Many people are naive, stupid, vote for imbeciles and most important, blame someone else for their problem.
Same feedback I’ve gotten from some kids of friends. They say, like, you play by their rules, keep your nose to the stone and good things happen.
We do that here, and we get crapped on.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_tax
“The countries that have recently reintroduced flat taxes have done so largely in the hope of boosting economic growth. The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have had flat taxes of 24%, 25% and 33% respectively with a tax exempt amount, since the mid-1990s. On 1 January 2001, a 13% flat tax on personal income took effect in Russia. Ukraine followed Russia with a 13% flat tax in 2003, which later increased to 15% in 2007. Slovakia introduced a 19% flat tax on most taxes (that is, on corporate and personal income, for VAT, etc., almost without exceptions) in 2004. Romania introduced a 16% flat tax on personal income and corporate profit on 1 January 2005. Macedonia introduced a 12% flat tax on personal income and corporate profit on 1 January 2007 and promised to cut it to 10% in 2008.[21] Albania has implemented a 10% flat tax from 2008.[22] Bulgaria applies flat tax rate of 10% for corporate profits and personal income tax since 2008.[23]”
Brief summary: Russian laws for civilians
•No handguns, no full-auto. Very rare exception — retired high-rank officers guns given in reward, usually such guns carry rich engraving and golden plates with officer name, congratulations, etc; it’s only exception when civilian given license for the rest of life;
• Anything designed with intentions to make a weapon is a weapon. E.g. iron rod from the nearest dump is not a weapon, but if you’ll wrap one end with duct tape to make a handle, you’ll make a weapon. Very fishy;
• In fact, any tool able to obtain projectile energy more than 7,5 joules and caliber more than 4,5 mm counts as a firearm. Law on Weapons says “and” in the phrase about limitations on the muzzle energy and caliber, so in theory it’s possible to design a 4 mm pneumatic gun with muzzle energy more than 7,5 joules, but another place in the law states: anything with muzzle energy more than 25 joules counts as firearm. Currently these rules about airguns are not strictly enforced. Sometimes I see “Diana”, “Hunter” and other powerful airguns in gunshops. Alas, their price is far out of my reach :(
• There are a lot of gas handguns, these silly and poor quality firearms with blade inside the barrel and tear gas ammunition. Mainly useless, because CS is too weak against drunk and half-drunk goblins. Some people believe in the “psychological” effect. Yeah. Require license, like license for hunting weapon. Loading anything except tear gas ammunition is prohibited (though some guys load salt or some small lead balls into blanks — it’s illegal and leads to losing license and serious troubles with law). License must be renewed every 5 years. Total expenses to obtain the license are around $80. Also, our law allows self-defense. That means if you’ll draw a gas gun and will try to scare away crooks, they’ll have a big chance to kill you (’cause these gas guns are weak) and get away with it in the court (you’ll be unable to prove that you were defending party). That’s why I carry UDAR and 4-cell Mag-Lite;
• Shotguns and rifles available, but you need a license to buy and keep them. License can be obtained (if you don’t have any criminal records) without problems, except price. This hobby eats hoards of money. But all weapons must be kept in the safe with gun and cartriges apart, and you can transport them only in the disassembled condition, so they are useless as tools of self-defense. Ugh. Well, there is a hole in the law :) “Saiga” shotguns (AK-like .410 and 20 ga) are “disassembled” when you remove magazine. So you can drop “Saiga” on the seat and hide magazines in the pocket. Everything is ok and you can always insert magazine pretty quickly. But transporting hunting weapons when season is closed is difficult and can put you in the trouble. Self-defense is not an excuse when it comes to firearms outside your home! Note, that you can keep shotgun at home for self-defense, but only on your own property, i.e. only in your flat. Steel entrace door and outer grating on windows protects better than License must be renewed every 5 years;
• Tear gas and pepper spray are legal without any licenses;
• Tasers and anything powered with electricity are prohibited, unless made in Russia. Our stun guns are lousy. Really. They are limited to max 60,000V and 1,5 joules (these numbers are not exact);
• Rumor: Handcuffs requre license, obtainable only by security companies, etc; I saw some handcuffs available in the shop, but they were too crappy to hold a strong man. Fishy area;
• Any bludgeoning weapon is a big no-no for civilian. There is a special entry in the Law on Weapons prohibiting any bludgeoning weapon;
• Airguns outside of sport building or range are prohibited if their muzzle energy is more than 7,5 joules and caliber > 4.5mm, otherwise they doesn’t require license. Hunting with airguns prohibited completely.
I remember reading those in French class in the mid-Seventies.
Isn’t this the same moron who admitted some years ago that while a teenager he and his friends used to rape women for sport?
I don’t know, but socially, economically it seems Russia is moving in the non-communist direction, and we’re moving in the opposite.
Now foreign policy wise-Russia is a little screwed up, but frankly under Obama so are we.
And I believe that "tax" was only during a time of record setting crop growth, not during the lean years. :)
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