Tax reform in France - 'les pigeons'

[petagny]

In principle, I suppose putting taxation of income and capital gains on an equal footing must be a good thing, but there has been a strong reaction from business in France to recent proposals in this direction. A movement calling itself 'les pigeons'  (fall-guys) has emerged and seems to be making headway in reversing the policy.

This article in Le Monde suggests that their claims are exaggerated and that the full weight of the proposals will only fall on a small group of entrepreneurs/investors and that there are still many breaks or special 'regimes'.

http://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2012/10/02/entrepreneurs-pigeons-des-craintes-beaucoup-d-approximations_1768734_3234.html

All the same, it illustrates the problems of tax reform, particularly in the internet age where it is so much easier to mobilise popular opinion (even with a potentially distorted version of the facts). It's so much easier to give a tax break than to take it away (as illustrated in the tax codes of many countries)!

[STONE]

I wonder if there is a measure of the complexity of tax systems in terms of numbers of taxes and numbers of tax exemptions - we in France would be near the top, or am I wrong?

[John Short]

http://www.taxrates.cc/ provides a lot of info to do this calculation - could be a Phd lurking there!