By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 6:38PM GMT 06 Nov 2012 309 Comments
French president François Hollande has bowed to massive pressure for business tax cuts to pull France’s economy out of slump and stave off industrial decline, ditching a core element of his socialist platform. Company taxes will fall by €20bn a year equal to 1pc of GDP, to be phased in gradually by 2015 under a convoluted system of rebates.
Premier Jean-Marc Ayrault said it amounted to a 6pc cut in unit labour costs, enough to close the gap with eurozone rivals. "France is not condemned to a spiral of decline, but we need a national jolt to regain control of our destiny," he said. The mid-rate of VAT for restaurants and services will jump from 7pc to 10pc. The top rate will rise slightly to 20pc. Spending cuts will plug the revenue gap in order to meet the EU’s 3pc deficit target.
Critics call it the most humiliating U-turn in French politics since François Mitterrand abandoned his disastrous experiment of "Socialism in one country" under a D-Mark currency peg in 1983. Mr Hollande came to office vowing lower VAT rates to protect the buying power of workers, and called business tax cuts a "gift to the rich". He imposed €10bn of fresh taxes on firms just weeks ago in his 2013 budget, a move that set off a revolt by business leaders….To Read More…
My Take - Why do these people who promote all these idiotic socialist schemes have to go through all of this before they suddenly realize their schemes are disastrous and stop being stupid? There is more than enough historical foundation to absolutely......absolutely know......that socialism is now and has always resulted in failure. It is clear to me that Francois Hollande merits a seat on the board of directors in the Club For the Galacticly Stupid.
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