Gérard Depardieu leaves France to avoid Hollande's taxes

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well people that favor the EU and freedom of movement certainly shouldn't be upset or shocked by this.

You are seriously blaming the EU for fiscal exile? Never knew the lack of Schengen agreements has ever prevented a rich asshole from leaving to a tax heaven.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well people that favor the EU and freedom of movement certainly shouldn't be upset or shocked by this.

You are seriously blaming the EU for fiscal exile? Never knew the lack of Schengen agreements has ever prevented a rich asshole from leaving to a tax heaven.

No. I'm not blaiming it, just saying it would be rather hypocritical to support open borders and open markets and then be shocked and upset about this.

Since when supporting the freedom to do something means that you have to approve every use of this freedom?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well people that favor the EU and freedom of movement certainly shouldn't be upset or shocked by this.

You are seriously blaming the EU for fiscal exile? Never knew the lack of Schengen agreements has ever prevented a rich asshole from leaving to a tax heaven.

Although you have to admit that virtually any country outside of France is a tax haven in the eyes of the French these days.

That's true... And the saddest thing is that France isn't even close to taxing the uber-rich nearly as much as they should be.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well people that favor the EU and freedom of movement certainly shouldn't be upset or shocked by this.

You are seriously blaming the EU for fiscal exile? Never knew the lack of Schengen agreements has ever prevented a rich asshole from leaving to a tax heaven.

Although you have to admit that virtually any country outside of France is a tax haven in the eyes of the French these days.

That's true... And the saddest thing is that France isn't even close to taxing the uber-rich nearly as much as they should be.

Well if this is the reaction to a 75% marginal tax rate, I shudder to think what the reaction would be if France taxed "the uber-rich nearly as much as they should be."

No, I'm fine with the current French marginal tax rate (of course, it could and ideally should be higher than that... but 75% or 95% doesn't make much of a difference to me). However, it's worth noting that the French system to collect taxes is pathetically inefficient and easy to cheat. The current income tax, which is collected using this archaic system, generates as much revenue as a 8% flat tax (the CSG) which is collected in more modern and rational ways. And even when you don't cheat, it's ridiculously easy to avoid paying your fair share using exemptions, deductions and loopholes of all kinds. Tax rates might be important, but they only tell a very small part of the story.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sounds like the PS don't want to tackle the real issue, which is the tax code, they're just punishing those they're lucky enough to have be honest with them.

Kinda. It's much easier to take symbolic actions that appease the hard-left, rather than working on a serious overhaul of our broken tax system. But considering we're talking about people who make over one million a year, I wouldn't use the word "punishing".

@Han: Of course I agree with closing/capping loopholes and deductions, it's a great idea that should be a major piece of any serious tax reform. However, a 35% top rate is already insanely low (it's one of the lowest among developed countries) and bringing it down further at the moment when we're talking about budget austerity, as Romney pledged, is absurd. There's also the fact that Romney's plan has been proven to be unworkable by several independent studies (at least, unworkable without taking a certain number of highly unpopular and economically detrimental measures).

[Antonio the Sixth]

Of course in a period of recession, both tax hikes and spending cuts should be avoided. If the Very Serious People hadn't completely forgotten about Keynes, and if the GOP wasn't so obsessed with deficit reduction (or, in the EU context, if everything wasn't so screwed up), we would be discussing about stimulus measures and whether more spending or less taxes are the solution to end the recession. Since, however, we are pressured to balance the budget no matter what, the only question is: is it better to do so by cutting spending or by raising revenues. I'm aware of the neoliberal arguments in favor of the former option, but you can't ask me to agree with them. If we have to balance the budget, I'd rather do so by raising taxes, and, as much as possible, taxes targeting those who can better afford paying them.

[Antonio the Sixth]

On Depardieu:

Wow. Just wow.

[Antonio the Sixth]

LOL, Putin is such a troll.

[Antonio the Sixth]

At least this makes it abundantly clear what the priorities of Western plutocrats are and how much they care about stuff like freedom and democracy (it was already clear they didn't give a damn about justice and solidarity, of course).

[Antonio the Sixth]

Didn't this guy also used to (claim to) be some kind of leftist?

He was a well-known buddy of Sarko, at least.

(well, Carla Bruni used to call herself a leftist too )

[Antonio the Sixth]

And today, Depardieu didn't attend a trial he was subject to, in France, for drunk driving... Still trolling it seems.

[Antonio the Sixth]

In somewhat related news...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-budget-minister-jerome-cahuzac-faces-tax-evasion-allegations/2013/01/08/177809f4-59c1-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_story.html

Yeah, we've talked about it in the French megathread. That's unforgivable if true, but it remains to be verified (from what I've heard, this affair might be tied with a longstanding local political vendetta). Sadly, Cahuzac asked UBS to certify he has no account there, and they apparently refuse. Of course, Cahuzac might have anticipated the refusal.