PARIS: French President Francois Hollande declared that companies would have to pay a 75 percent tax on salaries over a million euros after his plan for a “super-tax” on individuals was knocked down by the constitutional court.
Hollande, battling to win back support as his economic goals fall away within a year of his election, said shifting the millionaires’ tax onto companies would be a way of getting the wealthiest French to contribute to ending the crisis.
“I am sticking by my pledge,” Hollande said, and urged a disillusioned nation to trust that he was doing all he could to get the stalled economy back on its feet. On the defensive, with his approval ratings in tatters, Hollande acknowledged he had failed to anticipate the crisis dragging on for so long, but all the tools were being put in place to restore growth and bring down unemployment.
The Socialist leader said that despite his effort to reduce the public deficit in a climate of stalled growth, no new taxes or tax hikes would be imposed on households this year or next. He warned, however, that the French would have to work longer under a pension overhaul being worked on for next year in order to reduce a gaping deficit in the retirement system.
“My first objective is to reverse the unemployment rate,” Hollande said, explaining that he was gunning for the relentless rise of past years to come to a stop at the end of the year and for the 10.6 percent jobless rate to start falling from then.
Reuters
