A number of the richest people in France have come forward and volunteered to pay higher taxes in an attempt to aid the country in battling its deficit.
A total of sixteen executives including; Frederic Oudea of Societe Generale, Jean- Cyril Spinetta of Air France, Liliane Bettencourt of L’Oreal and Christophe de Margerie of the oil firm Total, have offered to pay this voluntary economic contribution as an act of unity.
The French government is later expected to publicise further strict measures to be carried out in order to regain confidence from markets and reduce their deficit. It is likely that this notion of higher tax for the especially rich will be included in these measures.
Prior to this statement from the government, a letter was published on Le Nouvel Observatur, the French magazine’s website. The letter contained a statement, signed by the above mentioned individuals and other very wealthy executives, declaring their agreement that higher earners should make more tax contributions. It stated that each of the signatories believed that they had each benefited from the French tax system and therefore felt they should give something back. It was also cautioned that the increase should not be so high that it would deter people from paying tax altogether or encourage the mega rich to leave the country.
The French government has already made its public aware that they intend on increasing the taxes for those who earn over E1m or £900,000 per year. This is expected to contribute towards cutting the deficit by E14bn by 2013. These new policies come after it has been feared that France’s credit rating could be cut. It is hoped by the French government that the deficit will be reduced by 2.7% over the next two years.

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About The Author

Lee Murphy

MAAT and ICPA accountant, with a passion for making accountancy and bookkeeping accessible. Other interests include cloud-based software development for web and mobile access, keeping fit, reading, and entrepreneurship.

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