The New York Times reports on what President Macron of France has been up to: "major overhauls of France's labor market...more flexibility for individual firms in carving out agreements with workers." Also, a "proposal to reduce a tax on the rich known here as the 'Solidarity Tax on Wealth'— in French, the Impôt de Solidarité sur la Fortune, or I.S.F."
Reports the Times:
No president until Mr. Macron has dared go after the wealth tax since it was created, in a different form, under the first government of President François Mitterrand, a Socialist, in 1982.
The tax aims at assets — financial, property and otherwise — above $1.52 million (1.3 million euros). Everybody with holdings above that sum has had to pay up, on a progressive scale: The more you own, the more you pay.
This type of wealth tax has been eliminated almost everywhere else in the developed world. In Sweden, among other places, the elimination has had no effect on inequality, and there are signs it has actually spurred growth....Capital gains will now be taxed at a flat 30 percent under Mr. Macron's plan, nearly half the previous maximum rate.
Sounds promising, though a 30% capital gains tax rate is still well above top the U.S. rate of 23.8% (20% plus the 3.8% ObamaCare tax). (The Tax Foundation suggests the top capital gains rate in France was 34.4%, so the Times may be wrong about the "nearly half" part.)
