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The Spectacle Blog
French President Francois Hollande’s scheme to impose a 75% tax on the country’s millionaires has hit a temporary snag.
A French court has ruled the tax illegal because it is being directed to individuals rather than households (which is how French income tax is levied).
However, this will not deter the Socialists. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has indicated that a 75% income tax on households will soon be introduced.
Well, all this means is there will be a lot more families following in Gerard Depardieu’s leaving footsteps to Belgium. Meanwhile, the French economy will remain stagnant and their deficit will continue to balloon.
View all comments (13) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Aaron Goldstein
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/12/29/french-court-vetoes-75-tax-rat
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Bob K| 12.29.12 @ 4:03PM
I think that if the French Government wants this to work they will first have to confiscate the passports of their wealthy.
Occam's Tool| 12.29.12 @ 5:05PM
Europe has been screwed up for over a century.
RJ| 12.29.12 @ 5:49PM
Hurray for the French Constitutional Council. We should be so lucky regarding the Obama tax rate increases and new Obama taxes.
Frog in Uniform | 12.29.12 @ 6:35PM
In Frogland the government tends to despise the rich. Where does the wealth that makes it work come from? From illegal aliens on welfare? When the socialists have it figured out, it will be too late.
Sometimes, I think a real mess, complete with riots, arson and nationwide sabotage, would be the only way to save this country from itself. Maybe I'm too much of an optimist.
Pecos Pete| 12.29.12 @ 7:23PM
FiU: Your conclusion is correct. National chaos for France and the USA will be the ultimate solution to liberal dreams of utopia.
BBT! (Bring Back Tim!)
RJ| 12.29.12 @ 7:47PM
Riots, arson and national sabotage as a way to salvation? That sounds like the French Revolution. Did it lead to a good solution? Freedom and prosperity require self-reliance and public trust. I don't see it coming from violence.
Bob K| 12.30.12 @ 9:33AM
Is it correct to assume that since you favored the Bourbon Monarchy of France of which Talleyrand said: "they had learned nothing and forgotten nothing." And of which one of it's Kings had said "After me the deluge," that you also favor our Left Wing Monarch now ensconced in the White House who has foolishly and thoughtlessly said that he wants to fundamentally change our country without giving any thought or care to the consequences?
History is not a clock and doesn't really repeat itself but human nature does. The leadership of 18th century France ignored the signs of decay in the state and paid the consequences. Our elected officials are ignoring the signs of decay before them and may yet pay the consequences for doing so.
This governmental decay in our country has been brought about by the policies of our elected Monarch and the officials who support him and we have no crystal ball to predict how things will turn out. But timidity in addressing them is not the answer.
Bob K| 12.30.12 @ 9:44AM
In the first sentence of the last paragraph make that: "This governmental decay in our country has been brought about by the policies of our elected MONARCHS and the officials who SUPPORTED THEM......."
RJ| 12.30.12 @ 12:13PM
Where did I imply that I "favored the Bourbon Monarchy" or Obama? My point is that I don't see riots, arson and national sabotage as the road to salvation.
No doubt our nation is in crisis, although I think Obama is primarily a symptom of societal decay, not the creator of it. The fundamental problem is that we have a majority of the electorate who voted for him and his policies. The nation has been losing its values of personal freedom/limited government, rule of law, equality under the law, consent of the governed and self-reliance for many decades. Sadly, I fear that the American Republic has dead and that we are living in a corrupt dictatorship. To restore what we have lost, people's values need to change. I don't see that coming from riots, arson and sabotage.
Back to the French Revolution, I offer the following from Harlow Giles Unger's book, Lafayette:
"England’s Lord Acton argued that Lafayette taught the French the American’ theory of revolution, not their theory of government – their cutting, not their sewing. But, as historian Susan Dunn points out, 'The cutting – whether colonial war or regicide, whether declaration of independence or tennis court oath – is the easy part. The art is in the sewing.' ” (pages 382-383)
Frog in Uniform | 12.30.12 @ 4:33PM
Quote:"That sounds like the French Revolution. Did it lead to a good solution? Freedom and prosperity require self-reliance and public trust. I don't see it coming from violence."
Au contraire, Monsieur RJ. what we got from the Frog revolution was violence from a State and government that had seized power with ease and chose to change our society the way your president intends to change yours. They burnt entire regions to the ground, they killed priests, noble officers and farmers, destroyed churches, and went as far as changing the names of the months on the calendar and numbering the years starting with the new era, in roman digits. Mussolini kept that feature when he created a new society of his own. It was a masonic revolution with the sole purpose of creating a new order, a new human being in a godless society that would worship an abstraction called the Etre Supreme, a kind of Golden Calf but with no brain. That republic as it was defined, ended up devouring its own servants and had several resurrections in the last century. Their common character always was the violence exercized on whoever was getting in their way, be it the clueless peoples of Africa who were colonized for their own good by the socialist masonic republic of the time, or the many catholic schools who were in no hurry to teach the republican agenda.
Frog in Uniform | 12.30.12 @ 4:39PM
continued. I work for the current avatar of the republic but I must have crossed my fingers at some time, because I intend to serve and protect my G-d, my Country, my Nation, my Frog identity,but I'll be extra cautious before protecting the republic and/or the government. By the way do you know that every government employee is required to pledge allegiance to the republic and to serve the state? No mention of the flag, the constitution, or the citizenry, of course.
The republic is unable to protect our most basic rights as it was unable to protect the Jews during WW II, or to simply keep a watchful eye on our synagogues, our churches or our cemeteries. It has created chaos with immigration and bureaucracy. The violence that will save Frogland won't come from the state this time.
RJ| 12.30.12 @ 6:40PM
Bonjour Frog in Uniform.
I appreciate your comments and don't dispute that Obama has similarities to the French Revolutionaries in government - both were/are determined to change society to their liking and were/are unconstrained by law or tradition.
Alan Bullock raised a telling point in his biography "Hitler, A Study in Tyranny" which strikes me as true - "For Hitler’s originality lay in his realization that effective revolutions, in modern conditions, are carried out with, and not against, the power of the State: the correct order of events was first to secure access to that power and then begin his revolution. (page 257)
From what we have seen, freedom-loving people have much to worry about, but when it comes to restoring freedom, I think of America's Founders and their values. They (in particular, George Washington) behaved differently from other revolutionaries and I think it is the primary reason why it was successful, along with much help from France. Thank-you. Lafayette may not have helped France, but he was America's first and best friend.
Bob K| 12.30.12 @ 11:39PM
I would have to argue here, like RJ, that America's war with Britain for Independence was not a true revolution in the sense that the French Revolution was in it's complete upheaval of society.
America's was more a rebellion against a government too far away to properly rule peoples it regarded as subjects. The colonials determined that they were more capable of running their affairs than the far away British were and where they found usefulness in it they retained much of Britain's heritage in their new governance. The Common Law is the most cited example of this.
I don't think, however, that Obama is a symptom of our societal decay. I think he is much worse than that. I think he is a catalyst in speeding up this decay and all along he has been getting the support of the Media in his stated goal to fundamentally transform our society.
There are historical forces of Democracy, Populism and Nationalism at work in the USA as well as in the rest of the world which are also playing roles in this decay. The politicians in the Democratic party are more willing to kow tow to these forces in order to stay in power than the Republicans are and the latter are also reluctant to do what is required to slow them down for fear they will lose political power. That is to say in the words of WFB, Jr.: ".......standing athwart history yelling: 'STOP!' "