French President wants to tax millionaires at 75% of their income- too much?

So a few months ago France elected their first socialist president in about 20 years and later gave the socialists controll of parliament in parliamentary elections (which I did find kind of surprising considering the shape Spain is in after they had been governed by the socialist party from 2004 to 2011). I saw yesterday on tv that the French President, Francois Hollande wants to raise taxes on the rich, and that people who make more than 1 million euro a year would have to pay 75% of their income in taxes. Meanwhile Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, is encouraging French business people to move to the UK (about 40% of French entrepreneurs already move to London). A lot of rich French people are already considering moving to Switzerland or the UK and it is likely that France will experience some "brain drain". Also on the same tv segment one of the news analysts mentioned that the three highest taxing states (California, New York and New Jersey) have been experiencing significant "brain drain" (i.e. smart, skilled, upwardly mobile people are moving out of those states). Now that I think about it, it's possible that tax rates had some effect on the "white flight" of previous decades (though I think that was mainly caused by fears of violence and declining property values).

What do you think, is 75% too much? I think it is bad on a moral level (it's unfair to take 75% of someone's income) and on a practical/economic level (it leads to "brain drain").

What do you think the maximum federal tax rate should be (bear in mind people also have local and state taxes to pay), It think 25% or 30% to 33% is good, 35% (the current top tax rate) is okay.

That's not how marginal taxes work. No one is taking 75% of anyone's income.

It is too high though.

They'll just move to Monaco. who cares

Seems fair. Rich people getting that way by screwing everyone else over.

That's not how marginal taxes work. No one is taking 75% of anyone's income.

It is too high though.

-Sun_Tzu-

That's beyond excessive. Wow.

The gov should never tax anyone over 50%.:evil:

Its your money for ***** sake you deserve most of it.

That said, inheritances should be taxed more.

As someone who thinks that the upper class aren't paying their fair share here in the States, I definitely think that this is the other extreme.

NOBODY needs to be giving the vast majority of their income to taxes. That is just stupid....

hory chit! 70% of their income? thats fukked

Seems fair. Rich people getting that way by screwing everyone else over.

bigfoot2045

The sad thing is, I remember reading several comments on OT in support of this clown of a president the day he got elected...

The gov should never tax anyone over 50%.:evil:

Its your money for ***** sake you deserve most of it.

That said, inheritances should be taxed more.

dercoo

The sad thing is, I remember reading several comments on OT in support of this clown of a president the day he got elected...

kingkong0124

Making people not want to be successful is all the rage now in the west.

[QUOTE="dercoo"]

The gov should never tax anyone over 50%.:evil:

Its your money for ***** sake you deserve most of it.

That said, inheritances should be taxed more.

MrPraline

I simply believe people need to earn their top spot. Not just inherit all of "grandad's" hard work.

Old money's what rots this nation.

Why? So he can use the money to buy wine and frog legs?

France is a fairly socialist country I believe. It's all about redistribution of wealth. Here in America the tax rate for millionaires is around %50. Obama wants to raise it. Kind of makes the "American Dream" pointless.

Making people not want to be successful is all the rage now in the west.

Pirate700

France is a fairly socialist country I believe. It's all about redistribution of wealth. Here in America the tax rate for millionaires is around %50. Obama wants to raise it. Kind of makes the "American Dream" pointless.

Boddicker

Here in America the tax rate for millionaires is around %50.Boddicker

That's quite ridiculous and that's being light.

[QUOTE="Zeviander"]Dumb. That isn't even socialist... that's theft. It should be a flat tax rate across the board. You make $20,000? You pay $4,000 tax. You make $1,500,000? You pay $300,000. Everyone pays 20% (or whatever works) regardless of income, no loopholes, no "minimum" bullsh!t.-Sun_Tzu-

I'd rather have something like the FairTax. No one can escape it and it's simple.

Plus production should be rewarded, not punished. If anything tax consumption and encourage investmenting.

Plus production should be rewarded, not punished.SpartanMSU

Holy sh*t that's a lot. That's completely unfair; I'm sure those millionaires work quite hard for their money.

Holy sh*t that's a lot. That's completely unfair; I'm sure those millionaires work quite hard for their money.

Shottayouth13-

Of course it isn't fair, but it would work out for the best.FPSfan1985

Assuming of course these people don't just pack up and move....they are millionaires after all

Indigestion for les Riches in a Plan for Higher Taxes has this to say:

A tax accountant in Paris with many wealthy clients, Steve Horton, has calculated that a two-parent, two-child household with taxable annual income of a bit more than 2.22 million euros ($2.75 million) now has after-tax take-home pay of about 1.1 million euros ($1.35 million) under Frances current tax system.

That household would end up with 780,000 euros, or $966,000, if the Hollande tax took effect, Mr. Horton says. (The same family, with comparable income in Manhattan, would take home $1.55 million, the dollar equivalent of 1.25 million euros, after paying federal, state and city income taxes, he calculated.)

Taxes are high in France for a reason: they pay for one of Europes most generous social welfare systems and a large government. As Mr. Hollande has described it, the tax plan is about justice, and sending out a signal, a message of social cohesion.Linked Article

Large government and generous social welfare. Sounds like Greece.

It also had this to say:

They also know of companies start-ups and multinationals alike that are delaying plans to invest in France or to move employees or new hires here.

Whether many wealthy residents will actually leave and companies will change their plans, of course, remains to be seen. Some of the criticism could be political posturing, aimed at trying to dissuade the government from going through with the planned tax increase.

But some wealthy people left after Mr. Mitterrand raised taxes in the 1980s. And more recently, the former Victorias Secret model Laetetia Casta, the restaurateur Alain Ducasse and the singer Johnny Hallyday caused a stir by moving to countries just across the border to escape the French treasurys heavy hand.Linked Article

People moving just a few miles outside of France to avoid high taxes. There is a point at which taxing people too much causes them to flee or worse, stop working.

[QUOTE="Shottayouth13-"]

Holy sh*t that's a lot. That's completely unfair; I'm sure those millionaires work quite hard for their money.

MannyDelgado

[QUOTE="Shottayouth13-"]

Holy sh*t that's a lot. That's completely unfair; I'm sure those millionaires work quite hard for their money.

MannyDelgado

[QUOTE="MannyDelgado"][QUOTE="Shottayouth13-"]

Holy sh*t that's a lot. That's completely unfair; I'm sure those millionaires work quite hard for their money.

Shottayouth13-

[QUOTE="Shottayouth13-"]

Holy sh*t that's a lot. That's completely unfair; I'm sure those millionaires work quite hard for their money.

MannyDelgado

Do they work harder than someone on minimum wage in proportion to the factor by which their earnings are greater (i.e. hundreds)?MannyDelgado

[QUOTE="Shottayouth13-"]

Holy sh*t that's a lot. That's completely unfair; I'm sure those millionaires work quite hard for their money.

MannyDelgado

[QUOTE="MannyDelgado"][QUOTE="Shottayouth13-"]

Holy sh*t that's a lot. That's completely unfair; I'm sure those millionaires work quite hard for their money.

Pirate700

A CEO's work isnt hundreds of times more valuable either. The high level of risk involved is the only difficult part of a CEO.... Yet with many of these companies having golden parachutes, then the actual CEO's hold little to no risk for their actions.

In all honesty, taxes do need to be raised alot if we're going to offset the deficit.

Hey wait a minute...

Why didn't Obama suggest that the rich French people come over to the states... :|

He's a socialist! :o

[spoiler] There is such a thing of over-taxation. I don't know how French politics go or how their ecnomy is doing but you wouldn't want to tax the rich that much. You'd have to have a reasonable set of tax laws that are fair. It doesn't have to be a flat tax, a steady progressive tax can also be good. [/spoiler]

That kind of marginal tax rate is too high. Cut it down to 50-60%, that's acceptable if you want revenue maximisation and it's what Sweden does.

Hey wait a minute...

Why didn't Obama suggest that the rich French people come over to the states... :|

He's a socialist! :o

leviathan91

Goes to show you just how paranoid American conservatives really are. Obama is center-right by European standards.

That kind of marginal tax rate is too high. Cut it down to 50-60%, that's acceptable if you want revenue maximisation and it's what Sweden does.

Barbariser

Yeah, the Nordic model is a prime example of socialism done correctly.

We've currently got a maximum of a 63% tax rate on income here in Denmark (Not withstanding a 25% trade tax on everything, and on top of that even more taxes) which many socialdemocrat and socialists tout as something only the rich pay (truth is however the border for it set at roughly 80000$, meaning lots of middel income citizens pay it) In the last 45 years, Denmark has gone from being the richest european country north of the alps to being the defacto poorest (which coincidentally also is roughly the amount of time we have been building one of the biggest public sectors) . I always shake my head at all those socialist/OWS/99% people who go around screaming "tax the rich herp derp" because they have absolutely no idea what the hell they are bargaining for.