France's Constitutional Council on Saturday rejected a 75 percent upper income tax rate to be introduced in 2013 in a setback to Socialist President Francois Hollande's push to make the rich contribute more to cutting the public deficit.
The Council ruled that the planned 75 percent tax on annual income above 1 million euros ($1.32 million) - a flagship measure of Hollande's election campaign - was unfair in the way it would be applied to different households.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the government would redraft the upper tax rate proposal to answer the Council's concerns and resubmit it in a new budget law, meaning Saturday's decision could only amount to a temporary political blow.
While the tax plan was largely symbolic and would only have affected a few thousand people, it has infuriated high earners in France, prompting some such as actor Gerard Depardieu to flee abroad. The message it sent also shocked entrepreneurs and foreign investors, who accuse Hollande of being anti-business. All of which is true.
Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said the rejection of the 75 percent tax and other minor measures could cut up to 500 million euros in forecast tax revenues but would not hurt efforts to slash the public deficit to below a European Union ceiling of 3 percent of economic output next year.
"The rejected measures represent 300 to 500 million euros. Our deficit-cutting path will not be affected," Moscovici told BFM television. He too said the government would resubmit a proposal to raise taxes on high incomes in 2013 and 2014. You ain't gonna get that either when all the high income earners flee. Lemme see, 75% of nothin'... is nothin'.... carry the 10 and add... nothin'...
The Council, made up of nine judges and three former presidents, is concerned the tax would hit a married couple where one partner earned above a million euros but it would not affect a couple where each earned just under a million euros.
UMP member Gilles Carrez, chairman of the National Assembly's finance commission, told BFM television, however, that the Council's so-called wise men also felt the 75 percent tax was excessive and too much based on ideology. Wow. Sanity in the EU... Who would have thought? Continued on Page 47
Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to pay 36m euros (£30m) a year to his ex-wife Veronica Lario, reports say. Berlusconi will keep the £60m villa where the couple lived with their three children, as part of a divorce deal reportedly filed on Christmas Day.
Ms Lario left Berlusconi in 2009 after he was seen at the 18th birthday party of an aspiring model, Noemi Letizia.
US magazine Forbes estimated his wealth at almost $6bn (£3.7bn) in March.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that Ms Lario, 56, had initially asked for £35m a year. Her 76-year-old ex-husband reportedly offered her about £3.1m.
The couple met in a dressing room in 1980 after Berlusconi saw Ms Lario perform in a Milan theatre. Noemi Letizia Silvio Berlusconi gave a necklace to Noemi Letizia on her 18th birthday. They were married in 1990.
He has two other children from his first marriage and is currently engaged to 28-year-old Francesca Pascale.
Continued on Page 47
#1
I understand Silvio's diet includes copious amounts of broccoli raab, arugula, and amaranth. He also enjoys fine red wines, an occasional lamb shank, but he shies away from most red meats and poultry.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/29/2012 4:23 Comments ||
Top||
#3
D *** NG IT, Silvio, didn't Clan Patriarch Frank Barone from TV's EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND'S teach you anything - iff you have a prob wid your woman, don't go to another woman, then you have two problems includ now being out EU$36.0Milyuhn a year!
AND THE BABES + THEIR LAWYERS AREN'T DONE WID YOU YET!
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France's Constitutional Council on Saturday rejected a 75 percent upper income tax rate to be introduced in 2013 in a setback to Socialist President Francois Hollande's push to make the rich contribute more to cutting the public deficit.
