President Francois Hollande got the approval he sought from France’s constitutional court to go ahead with a tax that mandates millionaires — those who earn more than a million euros a year, or just under $1.37 million — pay 75 percent of their salaries to government.
Bloomberg reported that companies will now have to pay a 50 percent tax on all wages above that mark. And when combined with Mr. Hollande’s other charges and fees, the new tax rate on high earners equals about 75 percent.
The country’s court said that’s an entirely constitutional system.
Mr. Hollande sought the higher office on a socialist platform that promised to take from the wealthy — whom he once famously said he “didn’t like” — and spread to the purses of the less economically fortunate. He first announced his 75 percent tax plan in February 2012 and pursued it aggressively in recent months. The notion infuriated many from the business world, even leading famous French actor Gerard Depardieu to threaten to renounce his citizenship.
The constitutional court knocked down Mr. Hollande’s first proposed tax hike because it applied to individuals, rather than households. So the president reinvented the plan, applying it to businesses. The court accepted this version — even though more than 60 members of parliament and 60-plus members of the Senate opposed it, Bloomberg reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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