Friday, December 15, 2006

The French are people too

"People respond to incentives." That's Principle No 4. Here is an example:

French rocker Johnny Hallyday, one of France's biggest showbusiness stars and a high profile supporter of presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy, said on Thursday he was moving to Switzerland to escape French taxes.

"Like a lot of French people, I'm sick of what they make us pay in taxes," the singer told Europe 1 radio on Thursday, a day after his impending departure for Switzerland was first reported by the weekly L'Express....

[Prime Minister] Villepin's government has reduced the top income tax bracket to 40 percent but has maintained a wealth tax on people who have assets worth 750,000 euros ($990,500) or more.