France's Loss Is Russia's Gain
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bobevenson
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France's Loss Is Russia's Gain
Russia, with its 13% income tax rate for everybody just granted citizenship to a wealthy Frenchman facing a 75% rate. Viva French (and European) socialism!!!
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The Voice of Time
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Re: France's Loss Is Russia's Gain
gains and losses happens all over the world all the time. You could had made your case about the 75% tax in general, but singling out this simple case is biase. It's a PR-stunt.
Personally I think the tax is, as French high-court ruled, "unfair", and won't help society much. If France is gonna battle its overspending it needs to take a look at 1) some minimal reductions in spending and reduced public excess-spending in the future (like undertaking costly big projects that doesn't give decent return), and 2) increase taxes in general to a level that sends the public budget in a loan-combating direction.
Personally I think the big difference between German and French budget spending is that France tries to be everything of a superpower, with a strong army (despite the French GDP per capita being lower than the German their military spending in terms of per capita is 60% higher, the 12th largest in the world mostly surpassed by rich countries, not surprisingly Greece (one of their reasons for budget problem), Israel and a bunch of rich countries including Norway + slightly United Kingdom and Australia on respectively 10th and 11th spot), a sometimes excessive welfare system (that is, while I'm no expert, and the French aren't of the size in welfare spending of the Nordic countries, my short experience of it is that they are not tough enough on making sure that spending reaches only those who needs it the most and that it doesn't give unneeded help... one case that comes to mind is 100% subsidized baby-sitting services in the capital).
After reading for some time it also occurs to me the French social security system in general appears to be very effective, as it transfers a lot of the responsibility of people's financial welfare to the state whereas it leaves companies less responsible. The downside of this is that the pressure on companies to develop properly is reduced, and that many people will remain poor instead of increasing their opportunities in the economy. I personally hold the pressure on any society to develop (which, contrary to what you might think, doesn't come necessarily from free marketing and individualism), and with single glance I'd question if the French society is meeting the proper pressure. Certainly the awful spending on military makes it uncompetitive compared to German budgetting, and frankly it shouldn't need all the military capability it has (despite the fact its military size is only a fourth (read "probably out-dated information from wikipedia) of the US in terms of active personell.
Personally I think the tax is, as French high-court ruled, "unfair", and won't help society much. If France is gonna battle its overspending it needs to take a look at 1) some minimal reductions in spending and reduced public excess-spending in the future (like undertaking costly big projects that doesn't give decent return), and 2) increase taxes in general to a level that sends the public budget in a loan-combating direction.
Personally I think the big difference between German and French budget spending is that France tries to be everything of a superpower, with a strong army (despite the French GDP per capita being lower than the German their military spending in terms of per capita is 60% higher, the 12th largest in the world mostly surpassed by rich countries, not surprisingly Greece (one of their reasons for budget problem), Israel and a bunch of rich countries including Norway + slightly United Kingdom and Australia on respectively 10th and 11th spot), a sometimes excessive welfare system (that is, while I'm no expert, and the French aren't of the size in welfare spending of the Nordic countries, my short experience of it is that they are not tough enough on making sure that spending reaches only those who needs it the most and that it doesn't give unneeded help... one case that comes to mind is 100% subsidized baby-sitting services in the capital).
After reading for some time it also occurs to me the French social security system in general appears to be very effective, as it transfers a lot of the responsibility of people's financial welfare to the state whereas it leaves companies less responsible. The downside of this is that the pressure on companies to develop properly is reduced, and that many people will remain poor instead of increasing their opportunities in the economy. I personally hold the pressure on any society to develop (which, contrary to what you might think, doesn't come necessarily from free marketing and individualism), and with single glance I'd question if the French society is meeting the proper pressure. Certainly the awful spending on military makes it uncompetitive compared to German budgetting, and frankly it shouldn't need all the military capability it has (despite the fact its military size is only a fourth (read "probably out-dated information from wikipedia) of the US in terms of active personell.