Posted on 10/04/2012 7:26:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The French government is trying to reign in its deficit by jacking up taxes, including the capital gains tax, which it wants to bring to the same level as the tax on income earned by the sweat of your brow—an old philosophical pillar of the French left.
But an explosive essay published last Friday hit a nerve with entrepreneurs, venture capital investors, artisans, and mom-and-pop business owners.
And their anger, which spread across the social media, the papers, and finally TV news, turned into an open revolt.
The trigger was an editorial in La Tribune by John-David Chamboredon, Executive President of ISAI, an internet startup fund. After the Finance Law 2013 was proposed during the presidential elections, he wrote, “la France du business stopped breathing.” Investments and hiring were put on hold.
The cause: the capital-gains tax provisions. An entrepreneur, for example, who risked his savings, spent 10 years growing his business, created perhaps hundreds of jobs, survived all the challenges, and then wanted to cash out, would have to pay two layers of taxes on the capital gains, totaling, according to his calculations, 60.5%. And so would investors.
It would kill entrepreneurship. Funding for startups would dry up. And growth in the private sector would wither. “If the fiscal maelstrom is confirmed, the sequence of events is quite clear,” he wrote. “Instead of hiring people and developing the business, owners threatened by this confiscation would spend the rest of 2012 imagining ways to escape it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
These are hardworking, risk taking entrepreneurs and creative start ups, not coupon clippers.
I never realized there was so much leftist class warfare sentiment here on FR.
I know, because I'm one of them. It does not seem right, though, that innovation should be punished and litigation/investment/paper pushing rewarded. Just my opinion.
The French government is trying to reign in its deficit by jacking up taxes, including the capital gains tax, which it wants to bring to the same level as the tax on income earned by the sweat of your brow—an old philosophical pillar of the French left.
“I actually agree with this. Money earned from real work should be taxed at a lower rate than income not tied to the sweat of the brow. Let’s encourage innovation, not golfing.”
Money I invest that was earned “by the seat of my brow” has ALREADY been taxed . If there is no incentive to invest, people won’t do it. Call any London real estate broker, and ask them how much time and money they are spending to woo wealthy French to move there.
You actually think that "real work" is not involved in income generated by investments? That no research is done, that no studying is required, that no alternatives are examined, that no investigations are performed, that no careful monitoring is involved, that no management effort is required?
How do you think innovation occurs, if not thru investment?
Not to mention that funds employed in investment have already been taxed...at least once...as ordinary income earned.
Understand the "the idle rich" is generally a misnomer -- except in the case of so-called trust fund babies, most of whom are Democrats, anyway. Moreover, the "idle rich" constitute a microscopic proportion of what you would evidently call "rich". The rest of them are working hard for every penny -- perhaps even harder than you.
No one who contributes to society and/or creates wealth should be punished (ie discouraged )
I hope you are not in France.
Regulation of financial markets is another topic, IMO.
Very true. I know many people who are independently wealthy and who work 50 + hours a week. Either continuing in their profession or doing volunteer work.
The “idle rich” is a Democrat myth, and applies to mostly Democrats.
The concept of taking money I did not earn is completely alien to the way I was raised. Sorry.
Crowdsourcing models like Kickstarter and IndieGogo present an interesting and, I think, positive alternative to conventional venture capital.
I’ll go halfway with you. Leave unearned income tax rates alone, but cut earned income such that it is lower. Give the people who most need the help, the help. At the same time, neutralized the threadbare old trope that the Republicans are the party for the rich and against the working man.
Truly, you have suffered. But is that a good reason to want those more fortunate than you, but just as hard-working, to be punished?
Please, sir, reconsider...
I've been a software engineer for 18 years, making over the course of that time millions of dollars for other people. Most recently I got to see what all the hubbub about "business-friendly" Texas really means. It means you - the business owner - can pay people a pittance of a wage and treat intelligent professionals like hourly warehouse workers. The concept of "overtime" has no place among professionals.
I see people with straws, like the proboscis of a mosquito, sucking off the labor of people like me, with three children whom I can no longer support and who are now thousands of miles away - and whom I may well never see again since, if I get seriously sick, I will have no choice but to succumb to the illness. They are the ones with the Steinways, the nice homes. I actually PLAY the piano - difficult and technically demanding material like Chopin - and could benefit from a Steinway, but I'm not one of them. Nope, I work and produce for a living, and those who work and produce are the plebes at the bottom.
Damn you, Obama.
I’m with you. Game on!
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