Tought times ahead for France.
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there is to be a new 75% tax rate for people earning more than 1m euros (£800,000; $1.3m) a year.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19754016
Wonder how many of these people will take their business and taxes elsewhere?
Of course it's popular to tax the rich and hit companies with additional financial burdens but this has an adverse effect on competitiveness:
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But France has not had a budget surplus since 1973. The social burden has been passed to the employer in the form of higher and higher taxes.
Since France joined the euro, the unit cost of labour has risen by 28% - in Germany by just 8%.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19740957
---------- Post added at 13:05 ---------- Previous post was at 13:03 ----------
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Originally Posted by ntluser
Sadly, it is not going to go away.
Despite all the talk of cuts in places like Greece, the one thing I haven't heard is leaders of countries cutting their own salaries,expenses, pensions etc. and until they feel the pain things are not likely to change.
Bolstering up the Euro artificially is just dragging the rest of the Eurozone down. It is, as has been stated, generating resentment between those who are paying for the support and those receiving it. While the sound German economy has people busy beavering away, the Greeks want to strike.
It would be far better if the Greeks became part of the solution rather than part of the problem, because there will come a point where those countries with the sounder economies will cry enough and we will be in a situation where Eurozone members revert back to their original currencies and support their currency at a level they can afford. They will then be left to manage their own affairs without financial support from other Eurozone members.
For me that is the best solution because it allows all Eurozone members to determine their own futures and puts the responsibility for sorting out the economic ills onto the people causing it.
Better still, each country can formulate its own plans tailored to the conditions in their own economy.It will give EU leaders a real incentive to address the issues with true leadership from the top.
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Yes, makes you wonder who thought the Eurozone was a good idea in the first place doesn't it.