WE ASKED Connexion newsletter readers what changes they would like to see made to the French tax system.
Nicolas Sarkozy has announced a major review for next year that will cover everything from wealth tax to income tax and capital gains.
Connexion reader Tom Flynn, who lives in the Nord, shared these ideas with us:
"Why not have a universal minimum tax paid by every man, woman and child for using the services of France? This would include all visitors and immigrants staying more than one month. With half of France not paying any income tax, this would certainly be a revenue producer and at the same time be considered fairer by those productive workers and businesses who have been contributing alone.
"VAT should remain the same; therefore those who are more fortunate and purchase more expensive items such as cars will contribute more than less fortunate taxpayers. Eliminate wealth tax and all tax breaks.
"All public employees, including MPs and senators, will follow the same rules for contributions and for receiving a pension.
"All changes to work contracts for public service employees will need to be submitted to taxpayers in a referendum for approval. Public service employees will not have the right to strike."
Here are some of your responses...
In your dreams, Tom
Tom Flynn's idea of taxing every man woman and child in France is ridiculous and reveals an ignorance of the social and cultural problems currently prevalent in France.
How can one impose taxes on people who are unemployed in France - currently 10 per cent and growing? How can one impose taxes on families who are living on or below the poverty threshold?
Would taxing children in the family solve the growing problem of an ageing population (hence the problems with future pensions)? Couples need to have more children, not less. Taxing the children in a family would discourage couples from having a child.
As for 'visitors' staying more than one month: try and catch them. For example, I was speaking recently to a retired expat from Britain who has been living here for some years. We were discussing taxation on income. He told me that he had never paid tax here.
Eleanor Thomson
Let's be radical
If Tom Flynn is correct, and 50 per cent of the French do not pay income tax, then some of those not paying must be avoiding tax. They should be made to pay their fair share.
A radical flat-rate of tax, say 20 per cent, would make France an even more attractive place to live and do business in.
Sue Buckle
EU needs to look at voting rights and tax
In my opinion any major tax changes in France need to be considered at the European level.
We are in the EU and for better or worse, France should be proactive and work with Germany and Brussels to start getting tax harmonisation.
At the same time they could also be seen to promoting : "No [direct] taxation without representation" as it's long overdue for all of us EU nationals to have the right to vote in national elections. Something your journal should be pushing as well.
Richard Armspach
'Simple' analogy
I think the following analogy sums up France.
An economics professor at a local college made the statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D. No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
It could not be any simpler than that.
Jon Collard
