The Frogs are in trouble and they did it to themselves!
The French government is wringing its hands in frustration about how to deal with wealthy French nationals who are expatriating to avoid France's crushing new tax hikes.
World-renowned actor Gérard Depardieu, for example, has recently decided to take up residence just across the Belgian border to avoid the tax penalty he would incur by remaining in France. This is merely an allegation at this point, of course, but it seems a safe guess that Depardieu has noticed French politicians' distaste for the wealthy -- which is not a feat of consciousness, considering that the new socialist president François Hollande has famously quipped, "I don't like the rich" while campaigning on promises to "tax annual income of more than one million euros per year at 75 percent."
It's just the latest of many black eyes for France's new administration. France's richest man, Bernard Arnault, has applied for Belgian citizenship, and according to The Telegraph, "among Mr. Depardieu's new neighbors in the village of Nechin will be members of the Mulliez family, who own the Auchan supermarket chain." And for months now, wealthy French families have been buying real estate in England, thanks in part to British Prime Minister David Cameron's shrewd marketing. Seeking to poach tax revenue from France, he has promised successful French families and businesses that the U.K. will "roll out the red carpet" in welcoming them. Understandably, they find that message a tad more attractive than Hollande's.
This presents problems for French socialists beyond the immediate loss of revenue which would finance their proposed top-down redistribution. There is also the issue of image. After all, convincing the world that France's socialist government is successful is a pretty tough sell when the successful want absolutely nothing to do with it.
It is no coincidence that those who would be required to finance a Utopian redistribution of wealth are rarely supporters of implementing such a model. John Locke observed that natural laws exist, independent of any system of government, and among these are not only the individual's fundamental right to life and liberty, but also a right to "property,"
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