The Seventy-five Percent Solution

France is a nation of approximately 66 million citizens, only 3,000 of whom earn over 1 million Euros per year. These poor slaves are now targeted by the have-nots and will soon be taxed on that income at the staggering rate of 75%.

This is the culmination of a campaign promise made by newly elected French President Francois Hollande who has said he doesn't like the rich.

The people love it. It has massive public support even though it is largely symbolic and won’t do much to boost the flagging economy. French auto workers said they favored the rich paying more. “It’s not all, AT ALL, sufficient,” Union Leader Jean-Pierre Mercier said. “We should take more of their wealth.”

"It's a good idea. If you have money, you can pay taxes," said one woman among residents around the posh Place Vendome area. Even there it is hard to find anyone against the tax.

“I think it’s a good thing. In France we have to do a lot of very strong and very huge fiscal efforts to be able to respect our commitments, our European commitments to a 3 percent of GDP deficit,” said Gilbert Cette, a French professor of the economy.

This is the major problem with democracy as I see it. The have-nots will always possess more votes than the halves so at crunch time all they need to do is vote to force the halves to pay more taxes. If it can happen in France it can just as easily happen in America.

If I were a rich person in France, I would stop working. If I were a rich person in France, I would leave. Opposition lawmakers say that this tax has already sent that signal to the rich.

"If you want to succeed, if you want to be an entrepreneur, and work very hard, then go away,” Former French Budget Minister Valerie Pecresse declared. The tax sends a bad signal to the youth of France. She and others have said the move stigmatizes the rich, and that its almost more the attitude towards wealth that hurts than the extra tax itself.

Now the news is that Bernard Arnault, France's wealthiest man and founder of the luxury goods empire that includes Louis Vuitton, had applied for Belgian citizenship. This has prompted the French savages to accuse him of treachery.

If a man complains about a pickpocket’s hand in his coat he’s guilty of treachery in France.

This is the end of democracy in France explains Jerome Barre, who advises the wealthy on tax matters. Half of his clients were thinking of fleeing France he says. "It's an insult. They consider they are good taxpayers. They have companies, businesses and they are working hard. The context is difficult, but they are not the source of the crisis," Barre said.

The wealthy French are already paying more than 50% so this just adds injury to insult. I’m surprised that they didn’t all leave long ago. While most French citizens' taxes are about to go up, those hit with the biggest increase want to know why the government doesn't spend less rather than tax its citizens more.

Why should they try to spend less when they’ve found the seventy-five percent solution?