A 75% tax rate is theft – unless you’re a hard core Bolshi at heart: lejdd.fr/Politique/Actualite … ort-581254
And apparently France’s Constitutional Court agrees:
[quote]For investors and entrepreneurs, it shows that France can’t be confiscatory, that there are rules that have to be followed,” says Laurent Dubois, a professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris. Still, “the government won’t drop the idea, and the commentary from the highest levels of government is anti-rich, and that’s a red flag.”
In a letter published in the Journal du Dimanche this month, Gerard Depardieu said he is leaving France “because you consider that success, creativity, talent, anything different, are grounds for sanction.”
The tax, one of Hollande’s campaign promises, had become a focal point of discontent among entrepreneurs and other wealth creators, some of whom have quit French shores as a result. The ruling comes as the president seeks to cut the public deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product next year from a projected 4.5 percent this year.
The Constitutional Court ruled yesterday that Hollande’s 75 percent band wasn’t acceptable because it applied to individuals, when French income taxes are generally based on household revenue. As a result, two households with the same total income could end up paying different rates depending on how earnings are divided among their members, counter to the rule of equal tax treatment, the Paris-based court said.[/quote]