Taxes on voting and champagne
Many April Fool’s jokes had a political twist this year
PLANS to make people pay for voting, and a new slimming pill named after chubby cartoon character Obelix were among April Fool’s jokes in the French papers and online press.
According to Yahoo! France voting at elections is to be subject to a “citizen’s tax” to help pay for the “logistics” of organising polls.
If reelected President Sarkozy will also be making use of numerous referendums to cut through “institutional blockages” in decision-making, that will also each require payment of the tax, said the site. Political opponents were quoted reacting, including the Front de Gauche’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon, saying “it is a real insult to the people”.
The UK’s Mail on Sunday also reported plans for a new tax - on chilled champagne. This was to come on top of one on hot snacks which has been derided in the British press. The “Thermal Reduction Initiative (Champagne)", billed as eco-friendly, would add 9% to the price of the drink when served chilled in bars and restaurants, the paper said.
French news website Rue89 also went for a political angle, with a made-up interview with the man famously insulted by Mr Sarkozy at the Paris Salon de l’Agriculture in 2008 (the bystander refused to shake his hand, leading to the president telling him to ‘get lost, you sad git’). “Yves Bouvière” explained it was all “staged by the Elysée” and was intended to show the president’s suave wit. It was planned he would say something like “and yet a handshake is decisive in judging a man”, but it went wrong.
A heavy-duty medical journal, Prescrire, reported clinical trials of a drug for keeping weight off after a diet, called “Obéfix”. It is “effective, with few risks,” the magazine said.
