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In a feudal as well as futile attempt to keep wealthy French citizens from leaving the country, France hikes the "Exit Tax" on transfers of wealth to outside of France. They also lower the base and increase the number of things on which the tax applies. According to a "pay-walled" article on Le Monde of which I can only read a part ... "The exit tax was established in 1999, repealed in 2005, then reintroduced in the first Amended Finance Act for 2011. The law was intended to limit the temporary exile of entrepreneurs wanting to sell their stakes in...

The title of this piece has an asterisk because, unfortunately, we’re not talking about progress on the Laffer Curve in the United States. Instead, we’re discussing today how lawmakers in other nations are beginning to recognize that it’s absurdly inaccurate to predict the revenue impact of changes in tax rates without also trying to measure what happens to taxable income (if you want a short tutorial on the Laffer Curve, click here). But I’m a firm believer that policies in other nations (for better or worse) are a very persuasive form of real-world evidence. Simply stated, if you’re trying to...

The French government has decided to suspend an unpopular environmental tax on heavy goods vehicles following a weekend of protests in Brittany. The move is expected to cost the France hundreds of millions of euros in lost revenue. … The unpopular “ecotax”, aimed at encouraging environmentally-friendly commercial transport, was designed to impose new levies on French and foreign vehicles transporting commercial goods weighing over 3.5 tonnes (3.86 tons). Critics in Brittany said the tax would seriously damage the region’s precarious farming and food sectors by increasing transportation costs, driving companies out of business and leading to major job losses. …

France’s industrial woes deepened last month as car sales crashed 19pc and French brands lost market share at an dramatic pace, raising fears of a serious economic crisis next year once austerity hits. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for French manufacturing remained stuck in slump in November at 44.5 and is now the weakest in the eurozone after Greece. "The figures are shocking," said sovereign debt strategist Nicholas Spiro. "France has been sailing dangerously close to the wind for some time but is now tipping into outright contraction." The Committee of French Automobile Producers said this has been the worst...

Since the French Revolution, Americans have glanced over to our friends across the Atlantic Ocean as a model of what a country should not do. That tradition continues. France’s centralized planning of the economy, health care, education, the family, religion, and so on is not working. The New York Times reports: The pervasive presence of government in French life, from workplace rules to health and education benefits, is now the subject of a great debate as the nation grapples with whether it can sustain the post-World War II model of social democracy. Well, those who champion economic, moral, and political...

France's Hollande: Sarkozy underplayed budget woesAssociated Press – 8 hrs ago PARIS (AP) — French President-elect Francois Hollande suggested Friday that the government of outgoing leader Nicolas Sarkozy underestimated the country's budget problems and wants a new audit of France's books. But Hollande, a Socialist elected Sunday to lead the world's fifth-biggest economy, said that wouldn't hurt his ability to fulfill campaign pledges. Those include higher taxes on the rich, thousands of new teaching jobs and freezes on some government spending. And Hollande stuck to his own deficit reduction goals despite new European Union figures released Friday that paint a...

Francois Hollande, the Socialist & Obama’s Twin, Wins France May 6, 2012 By Sara Noble You know what is really funny – funny ironic – not funny haha? Hollande, the new French socialist President, has the same platform as Obama, but we are not allowed to call Obama a socialist. The lamestream media is ignoring the similarities between the two men. Hollande is France’s third socialist president and Obama is our first. Francois Hollande wants to rollback the Merkozy austerity deal between Sarkozy and Merkel, increase spending, add government stimulus, tax the rich by bringing the highest tax rate to...

The fiscal frenzy that has seized French socialists is not only grinding France’s economy to a halt; it is also attacking the very foundations of French society by destroying entrepreneurship and responsibility. Taxes are raining down on French citizens, and the promised shelters often disappear before they have even been introduced. The French government’s 2013 finance bill has announced confiscatory tax rates on incomes and capital gains, and payroll taxes will be increased as well. But the socialists are shooting themselves in the foot, as such tax rates will destroy wealth and drive out entrepreneurs, capital, businesses, and young people....

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...

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and French President Francois Hollande are trans-Atlantic kindred spirits when it comes to fiscal policy. Unfortunately for French government coffers, Hollande is making the same mistake in Paris as O’Malley did in Annapolis three years ago. Hollande made raising taxes on upper income households a central component of his platform, and Hollande is now moving forward on his campaign promise to raise tax rates on those who earn over $1.2 million a year, taking the rate from 46.8% to a whopping 75%. Not surprisingly, it looks like we are starting to see results in France that...

Looming tax hikes by France's new socialist government have triggered an exodus of the Gallic super-rich to 'wealth-friendly' nations like Britain and Switzerland. The latest estate agency figures have shown large numbers of France's most well-heeled families selling up and moving to neighbouring countries. Many are fleeing a proposed new higher tax rate of 75 per cent on all earnings over one million euros. (£780,000) The previous top tax bracket of 41 per cent on earnings over 72,000 euros is also set to increase to 45 per cent. Sotheby's Realty, the estate agent arm of the British auction house, said...

Eurozone manufacturing is at a 31-month high according to Markit. Every country but France and Greece are expanding. French manufacturing is at a seven-month low in an intensified downturn. The seasonally adjusted Markit Eurozone Manufacturing PMI® rose for the third month running to post 52.7 in December, up from 51.6 in November (and unchanged from the earlier flash estimate). The latest improvement in overall operating conditions was underpinned by solid and accelerated growth in the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and Italy, while Austria continued to expand at a robust clip despite the rate of increase easing slightly since November. Meanwhile the...

A New Year's message from François Hollande backfired as his vague promise that taxes would be lowered some time in the future jarred with French voters facing tax increases that took effect as he was speaking. Instead of winning plaudits for his unexpected admission that taxes had become "too heavy, much too heavy", the unpopular socialist president - weakened by tax increases, rising unemployment and a shrinking economy - provoked incredulity and scepticism among critics on both Left and Right. Hard-pressed French households faced VAT increases on most goods and services from Jan 1 and only days earlier France's supreme...

France’s Socialist President Francois Hollande decides to combat a faltering economy by … RAISING taxes. Seriously. Then again, President Obama is raising taxes massively in the US, mostly through Obamacare. The French government unveiled a 2014 budget Wednesday that continues to rely on higher taxes, threatening to further dent household spending power and economic growth, as well as President François Hollande’s record low popularity. Faced with growing discontent over high taxation, Mr. Hollande’s government emphasized efforts in the budget to improve France’s public finances by curbing spending. But net new taxes are still set to increase by €3 billion, with...

Approximately 200,000 Britons own second homes in areas such as the Dordogne and other parts of France, particularly those serviced by budget airlines. Now, however, holiday home owners find themselves in the sights of President François Hollande as he seeks to tax the better-off to reduce France's large budget deficit. On Wednesday (July 4th), the French government announced it was to increase taxes on foreign-owned second homes. Tax on rental income would rise from 20 per cent to 35.5 per cent, and capital gains tax on property sales would rise from 19 per cent to 34.5 per cent. The extra...

PARIS — France’s Socialist government is proposing a slew of taxes — on art, on businesses, on the rich — that are drawing criticism for stifling entrepreneurship and scaring off the wealthy. “Unfortunately, I think the politics we are leading in France will turn out to be catastrophic for the economy, which is already in bad shape,” said French economist Marc Touati, author of “When the Eurozone Explodes.” “This is a serious mistake, something you learn in [Economy 101] — it will aggravate the recession and therefore shrink the tax base.” Led by President Francois Hollande, the French government proposed...

There’s a tendency in public life to exaggerate the positive or negative implications of any particular policy. This is why I try to be careful not to overstate the potential benefits of reforms I like, such as the flat tax. Yes, we would get better growth and there would be less corruption in Washington, but tax reform would not be a panacea for every ill. Many other policies also need to be fixed to generate sustained prosperity. Likewise, I’m obviously not a fan of Obamacare, but I try to remind people that our system was already messed up even before...

In spite of massive hikes in taxes on the wealthy and an increase in the VAT and other taxes revenue estimates missed their targets badly. Reader Lionel writes ... Hi Mish, As you were expecting, France did not manage to get as much tax revenue as expected by the government. Total revenues were €5.5 billion less than expected, split as follow: €500 million less in income tax €1 billion less in VAT €4 billion less in business tax (tax on business profits). Moreover, if you compare it to the initial forecast, it's €11 billion less than expected! And of course...