A new report by the think-tank Concorde has found that the high number of tax hikes and the vast employment regulations imposed over the years has led France to lose approximately one million jobs. The repressive tax policies have prompted entrepreneurs, businesses and the wealthy to flee the nation, an issue that was first projected after President Francois Hollande was elected last spring.
The study discovered that roughly 60,000 French businessmen are abroad and employing around 16 people each. It also found that three percent of the approximate two million French expatriates own businesses.
It is indeed a large number but the report published in the French daily newspaper Le Figaro says that the one million jobs figure is only a “conservative estimate.” The report noted that the amount of French citizens entering tax exile and the number of properties worth more than $1 million increased.
Some of the high-profile French millionaires to flee the country are Gerard Depardieu, Bernard Arnault, the Mulliez family and Jean-Michael Jarre. However, the government has already slammed the slate of news reports.
“I am troubled to read in the papers that the exile has begun, and that companies are fleeing,” said French Economic Minister Pierre Moscovici. “I also lament attacks on the government’s economic policies that are in vogue in France and abroad. Le French-bashing is terrible.”
Despite the government going on the defense, experts and officials are claiming that the left-wing economic policies could turn France into “the poor man of Europe.”
“Large foreign investors are shunning France altogether. It’s becoming really dramatic,” said Laurence Parisot, head of MEDEF. “Ten years ago, Germany was the poor man of Europe and if we don’t act now, that title will soon be ours.”
Leave a Comment