Socialist Francois Hollande wins French presidency

[Kira]

hardcore_gamer said:

And why should people actually want to stay in France if the state just takes 75% of their money away?

I am no fan of taxing high income earners almost nothing like the USA does, but taxing high income earners 75% is huge bullshit and I will laugh so hard once this laughable idea has (and it will) backfired horribly.

Not when tax-evaders will be taxed anyway, the american way. Also, you clearly made the confusion I was talking about.

To explain the principle and keep it simple with invented numbers:

- you earn 0 to 1000€ = 0% taxes
- you earn 1000 to 3000€ = 0 until 1000, 10% taxes on the rest
- you earn 3000 to 10 000€ = 0 until 1000, 10 from 1000 to 3000 and 20% on the rest

And so on and so on... until the 75% thing.

[Gez]

hardcore_gamer said:

And why should people actually want to stay in France if the state just takes 75% of their money away?

Reminds me of that guy. Earned a ton of money. Moved to the UK because of mean old [i]fisc[/i) were taking all his money. Ended up losing more money to his London landlord than to taxes when he lived in Paris...


And yeah, everyone who opposes high tax rates on the highest brackets has failed to understand how it works. I think that's why they're often in favor of a "flat tax", it's because it'd be easier on their puny brains.

[printz]

hardcore_gamer said:

I am no fan of taxing high income earners almost nothing like the USA does, but taxing high income earners 75% is huge bullshit and I will laugh so hard once this laughable idea has (and it will) backfired horribly.

It's often rumoured of northern countries doing this, but since you live there and are appalled by this, I'm going to assume it's just a false rumour, at least for Iceland.

[AndrewB]

K!r4 said:

Edit: also for the 75% shitstorm on millionaires, "they'll have only 250K of their annual salary!!!". It's 75% for the money got over 1 million. The UMP played a lot with the confusion.

Good luck keeping an economy afloat if an overwhelming number of business with more than a million in revenue shut down and start up somewhere else.

Also, you seem to confuse taxes on high incomes with taxes on businesses.

[Kira]

Good luck for them too, then. China won't be a paradize forever neither will Morocco or other places they are thinking about, not speaking about the cost of transportation if oil prices jump.

As for the taxes, no, I don't know how you read me.

Edit: you seem to be the confusing guy sir, reading again your post. It's not the companies who will be taxed 75%.

[Belial]

Mordeth said:

That "lowered retirement age" only applies if you have put in 41 working years prior. So somebody who didn't study and got himself a construction job at 18 can now retire at 60 after a 42-year long career. The guy who did get to University and started working at age 28 can also get out early, but will miss out on his full pension because he has not put in his minimum years on the workforce (which would be the case at age 69).

I'd expect the years of uni studying count towards working years somehow, as they do in Poland.

[Kira]

They don't, actually.

[Belial]

Lame. After 5 years of university I already had 8 working years.

[Acid]

My teacher was ecstatic about this today.

[Quast]

AndrewB said:

Good luck keeping an economy afloat if an overwhelming number of business with more than a million in revenue shut down and start up somewhere else.

So why bother taxing them at all in the first place? I mean, if they're just going to whine and cry about it and then cut workers, move money over seas, hire teams of lawyers and accountants to find every loophole possible to avoid paying and maybe eventually just move their entire operation elsewhere...Why waste our time trying to get tax money out of them?

[GreyGhost]

Technician said:

Having to work past sixty is actually really depressing. You're practically at death's doorstep before you can enjoy a few of your golden years.

That's the whole idea. You're a productive work unit one day and a drain on the public purse the next, so the less time you spend in the latter state the better. BTW - retirement ages in Australia are going up.

[hardcore_gamer]

Quast said:

So why bother taxing them at all in the first place? I mean, if they're just going to whine and cry about it and then cut workers, move money over seas, hire teams of lawyers and accountants to find every loophole possible to avoid paying and maybe eventually just move their entire operation elsewhere...Why waste our time trying to get tax money out of them?

Because its not like there is any middle ground right?

Because its not like we can just tax them moderately and get some money instead of either taxing them into bits (socialist nonsense) or not taxing them at all (American style capitalism nonsense)?

[Quast]

hardcore_gamer said:

Because its not like there is any middle ground right?

What middle ground? They avoid paying taxes today, in the united states the corporate tax rates are as low as they've been in 80 years. It doesn't matter what the tax rate is or what you consider 'moderate' or 'reasonable', they will pay 99 cents to avoid paying 1 dollar if they have to. They have the means and the motivation to do so.

So...why bother?

[Vordakk]

My very brief experience in France recently yielded two observations.

1. France has ridiculous tolls(like 100 euros in some cases)
2. France has no protein drinks or protein bars in gas stations or supermarkets.

So I'd say this Francois guy has his work cut out for him.

[ducon]

Wagi said:

This doesn't seem sustainable.

It is. There is enough money in France to do this.

[MRB_Doom]

French President-elect Hollande casts doubt on austerity

[Quasar]

Vive la France!

[Sharessa]

Well he's gotta be better than Chirac. I remember when the EU tried to pass a universal constitution and France voted it down, he went on public TV and told his countrymen that they voted "wrong" and they'd keep putting the vote up until they voted "right". He didn't seek a third term, but I doubt he would have been reelected after that anyway.