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Hollande Proposes Payroll Tax On Rich

Hollande Proposes Payroll Tax On Rich

During a time of wide spread austerity and other financial reforms, many countries have taken to cutting social programs while increasing taxes on the rich. In a second such attempt to tax the wealthy, French President Francois Hollande modified his existing proposal for a 75% tax on individuals by shifting the burden to corporations.

Hollande's first attempt at a 75% tax on wealthy individuals with income greater than 1 million euros was rejected by France's judiciary. Additional fallout resulted in French actor Gerard Depardieu leaving the country choosing to relocate to Belgium and change his citizenship to Russian.

The second proposal put forth by Hollande would implement a 75% payroll tax on companies which pay salaries of 1 million euros or more. Hollande's explanation for this was to maintain transparency at large corporations since they are the only ones with the financial resources to pay such high wages.

Similar arguments regarding equability have been promoted by Democrats in the United States. Recent negotiations for a fiscal cliff deal lead to the top marginal tax rate reverting back to 39.6%. This is a result of certain Bush tax breaks expiring returning the tax rate to a pre-2001 level.

Hollande's popularity has taken a significant hit recently as the French economy sputters across its many economic sectors.

"The broad-based weakness across manufacturing and services leaves scant room for optimism, with a range of indicators from new orders, backlogs, employment and output prices all residing at depressed levels," according to Markit economist Jack Kennedy.

The French economy is often seen to part of the core Eurozone economic engine up there with Germany and England. With its most recent performance however it is looking more like other countries in the region which are having financial difficulties like Spain and Italy.