Gérard Depardieu leaves France to avoid Hollande's taxes

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Belgium?  Seriously?  France, Belgium, what's the difference?  Nevermind.  His nose can still snort the french chuckle.  No loss to francophone audiences.  And I'm sure Madamme Deneuve won't mind taking short train ride to co-star with him. 

The difference is a bilgeload of taxes.  Even before the French tax hike, taxes would have been lower for Depardieu if he moved right across the border.  (He'd been living near the border even before this spat.)  It's no surprise that in a unitary European economy, that those who can live anywhere they wish and work would chose to flee the rapacious French taxes.

However, as the WSJ pointed out earlier this month, this is great news for people who want a little pied-a-terre in France for a second home.  If France isn't your primary residence, you aren't subject to these very high income taxes, but those who are leaving don't dare chance the French state insisting that their former primary residence is still their primary residence, so they are selling altogether when they leave (especially if they still have some business interests in France), making it a buyer's market in upscale French property.

So if a 10 million euro estate was out of your reach, but you can afford the 5 million being asked for it now, you're in luck!

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

He should be permanently banned from entering the country until he pays all taxes he's avoided by leading it. That's the sensible solution to this sort of problem.

Is that guy actually wearing a necktie with a flannel shirt?  And they say straight men have a bad sense of fashion!

Anyway, you may be on to something.  If his artistry is of value, in the real sense, and he cannot exploit it without entering French production studios, then his income diminishes to the point at which the returns from future roles outweigh the taxes.  

Then again, it may be a philosophical matter with him and he'd sooner forego the income than pay the taxes that he considers unfair.  In that case it's the society's loss.  It's a gamble.  If the French are as spineless as every Yankee thinks they are, then they'll make the safe bet.  

Does France really want to institute a 21st century version of the Berlin Wall?