Posted on 05/27/2012 6:38:18 PM PDT by Cincinna
The French aided the Americans in their revolution against their British oppressors. Now Benoît Pous-Bertran de Balanda, the descendant of a French general who fought for the Americans, is trying to help his wealthy countrymen escape what he calls the tyranny of a new Socialist government primed to severely tax the rich.
And France’s loss could be New York’s gain.
Mr. Pous-Bertran de Balanda, 30, is a broker for wealthy French clients looking to buy apartments in Manhattan. With the election of the Socialist François Hollande as president this month, the wealthy in France are suddenly scrambling for places to stash their money for a while.
Well-heeled French citizens are scouring real estate opportunities in neighboring countries like Britain and Switzerland. The United States — particularly New York and Miami — is also drawing French investors looking to pick up rental properties or pieds-à-terre, brokers say.
In recent months, as Mr. Hollande’s victory appeared more possible, the French stepped up their house-hunting visits to New York, several brokers said.
These are not billionaire Russian oligarchs with blank-check budgets on the hunt for trophy properties. The French buyers most active in recent months are generally looking at properties between $500,000 and $5 million, brokers say.
What the French are so concerned about is Mr. Hollande’s campaign vow to tax income over 1 million euros at a 75 percent rate. The Socialist government, trying to put a dent in France’s $1.3 trillion euro debt, has said it will also raise the tax rate on capital gains to the same level as the tax on ordinary income.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This is what happens when you raise taxes on the so-called rich: they leave, and take their money, businesses, and the jobs they provide with them, and their tax dollars and spending money are lost.
We in NY welcome the French who want to escape socialism and invest, buy property, and spend their money here.
Soyez le bienvenue!
Yuda thunk the Frogs woulda knowd dat the Hollandaise sauce is poisonous.
Don’t come here, we have one of those Socialists of our own to deal with.
If escaping taxes is the goal, I suppose more French will end up with Miami property rather than NYC. If an NBA star can figure that out, one assumes savvy French will as well. But NYC is more cosmopolitan if they want a certain level of culture as well as relative tax relief.
Thanks Cincinna.
This will be a short-lived fad.
Surely there are reputable financial advisors who’ll tell them Harry Reid’s America is no friend to wealth.
They are looking at Manhattan?
Surely they have no idea who Monsieur Bloomberg c’est
Why the hell would they move to Manhattan ??
Of all the freaking places.
Isn’t moving from France to New York (or California) to avoid taxes sort of like going from the frying pan into the fire? I can see moving to Palm Beach or Dallas or Austin, otoh.
NYC has a very large French expat community, a number of French schools, including Lycée Française where former president Sarkozy’s youngest son, Louis, is a student. NY also has a rich cultural life, and is very cosmopolitan.
Most if these French are not the “idle rich” but come here to work, invest, and create businesses. Even with high taxes, property taxes are very low, and all in all, still far lower than the confiscatory 75% tax on earned income promised by Hollande and the Socialists. Many are looking for opportunity and economic freedom, which is far greater here than in France.
How do you think Bloomberg, a lower middle class guy from Massachussets came to NY and became BLOOMBERG?
There is also a question of the French ISF, a tax on a persons entire wealth, not unlike the death tax here, except in France is on people who are alive, and collected every year.
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