The Debt Clock will tour around the whole country, stopping off at national landmarks and key cities to raise awareness of the national debt amongst the taxpayers who will have…
69% is the annual growth estimated by Standard and Poor’s, one of the leading agencies for ratings. This is the sharpest rise of S&P 500 index (which is estimating the…
Traditionally in France the rich are suspected to be responsible for every bad thing happening within the economy. The current crisis is no exception to the rule and many voices are heard saying that the rich should pay more taxes to redeem themselves from their sins that brought the crisis.
In the Boston Tea Party (Dec. 1773) local patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians and dumped the containers of tea into the harbor. The British parliament had passed the Tea Act to establish officials in major American cities to collect the new tax on tea (Americans had been buying tea from Dutch merchants outside of customs). The English East India Company had gained control of Bengal, and in taxing it caused a famine which destroyed the income of the company and depressed the stock value in which many members of parliament had invested.
We are delighted to announce that the French government definitely abandoned the project to ntroduce a carbon tax. This decision came after the ruling of the Constituional Council at the…
Constant attacks on tax havens and hedge funds by some politicians and statesmen is at least inappropriate. As a matter of fact, it is thanks to “speculators” that we have learnt about the pitiful state of public finance in several states (for example in Greece). On the other hand, international financial markets are the unique source of liquidities for troubled States. This is the point of view of Nicolas Lecaussin, Director of Development at IREF.
This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal on March 18, 2010
In the wake of his party’s crushing defeat in regional elections, it’s time to take stock of Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency, three years on. As in the USSR between 1985 and 1991, France has of late experienced a period of perestroika: The government recognizes the need to reform the system, but is simultaneously trying to save it. The hitch is that the system itself is unreformable. It must be replaced.
Despite all the troubles he has to face, President Obama keeps renewing his commitment to move forward with his plan to reform healthcare. His intention is to partly finance the reform with tax increases (there will also be cost savings in healthcare programs) and, not surprisingly, to shift the general burden a bit more to the wealthiest. Looking more closely at the proposal, however, it appears that it will increase one of the most economically harmful taxes: the tax on savings.
The French minister of finance Eric Woerth is ready to consider the possibility for France to write down in the Constitution a rule for the equilibrium of public finances. He…
