SO you thought you were paying a lot of tax.

Thank yourself lucky you're not living in France where thousands of high earners have been handed a tax bill that exceeded 100 per cent of their income.

The massive tax bill came in a one-off tax levy imposed by the French government on incomes for households with assets of more than 1.3 million euros ($1.71 million).

The tax surcharge related to 2011 earnings and led to over 8000 households paying more than 100 per cent tax, according to Reuters.

The surcharge was introduced by left wing president Francois Hollande when he took office last year. It was meant to offset a rebate brought in by the previous government that capped individual tax liability at 50 per cent of income.

Hollande was voted into office on a pledge of increasing taxes on the rich. However, his government has had to redraft legislation aimed at imposing 75 per cent tax on earnings over 1 million euros, an earlier campaign promise.

The French Constitutional Council decided this high level of taxation was unfair. The government has now redrafted its bill to hit companies rather than individuals, the news agency reported.

Sir Spot of Borg wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 9:42am:


...maybe that hammer and sickle he carries around....

BlOoDy RiPpEr wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 9:55am:


...a relative of Napolean Bonaparte maybe...

hillarious ..... 100% tax .....I suppose it makes up for all the times they paid no tax .

Kat wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 10:35am:

And what would you call fair?

sir prince duke alevine wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 12:30pm:




Only if they lead to marriage.

Kat wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 10:35am:


damn you are stupid.  and what are these high earners doing??? they are leaving because who wants to live ina country where every cent you earn is taken by the govt???

I seriously doubt that you have a job. You attitude doesn't sound like that of an actual salary earner

John Smith wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 10:31am:

Kat wrote on May 20^th, 2013 at 10:35am:


I would never advocate a 100% tax. That's just silly. I dislike the attitude of many fat cats out there but I wouldn't go so far as to advocate reducing their net income to zero. I am against excessive wealth accumulation (which is economically inefficient and not competitive), but forcing someone to sell their assets to create cashflow, effectively forcing people to go backwards in life is something I am also against. I do not believe in forcing anyone to go backwards, regardless of how rich they are or how much tax they have unfairly avoided. I believe that everyone should always be moving forwards, just at different rates.

These is no point in having a 100% tax. It's counterproductive to chase after the past sins of the rich. Just let it go.

Zero net income equals a waste of time. You spend a year earning $200k or more just to see it go to waste with nothing to put in your bank. You can't even give it away to charity! You have absolutely no power over the money you earned and no money to play with so it's no fun.

The fat cats can have fun with their money, just not too much.

I would agree that some people get too much money, money they don't really need and I would advocate imposing limits on how much wealth they can accumulate, but 100% income tax is not a constructive or helpful concept.  There are better approaches, like a logarithmic cap on net income.