Tax Freedom Day: France's National Day of Shame

PARIS
A couple of day ago, July 14,  we celebrated our National Day of Glory: Bastille Day, that commemorates the day we shook off the shackles of an absolutist monarchy. Today, July 17, is a sad day as it is the first day in the year when French citizens can keep the result of their hard-earned income. Yes, from January 1 until July 16, every single penny a Frenchman makes goes straight to the government via income tax, VAT, payroll taxes and a myriad other levies French lawmakers show so much creativity for.

No other European or developed country has to wait so late in the year to be freed from the weight of such quasi-confiscatory tax policy. But then no other government inflicts such a punishing tax burden on its citizens the way the French government does. As the below map shows, on average the French government takes away 54.1 % of an employee's full salary (including the employer's share.) Austria is number 2 with 53.4%; followed by Germany. The UK only taxes a reasonable 35.2%, meaning that the UK Tax Freedom Day comes much earlier than for France: on May 9. Even Spaniards are better treated: They are freed of their government obligations almost a month and a half earlier than their French neighbors: on June 8. And this, despite having had to endure 5 years of a Socialist-led coalition government  with the radical left.

Now, nothing intrinsically wrong with living in a Communist society. If that's what the French want, they're entitled to it. Except that something is clearly not right. Having the government tax you more and more in order to fund better quality public services is a perfectly legitimate choice. Except that the quality of public services in France has been heading south for the past decades:

-Healthcare is no longer what it used to be: Two decades ago, you didn't have to pay anything when you went to see your GP or presented a prescription at your local drugstore. Now, Social Security only pays a fraction of your healthcare and medicine, and the percentage is decreasing year after year. And that's if you're lucky to find a doctor: Seeing a specialist make require you to wait 2 or 3 months, some operations have longer wait lists. 

-Education is going down the drain with an increasing number of  French students leaving high school unable to write a French sentence correctly.

-Recently we went through weeks of mass protest because pensions are getting miserly and you have to work longer to get them.

-And as for law and order, just as the dreadful riots we saw two weeks ago are proof enough, that is not something that our high taxes are able to guarantee. Justice isn't faring any better: File a lawsuit in any court of law and you'll be lucky if you get a resolution within one year. 

A book every French citizen
should read

I could go on and on, but you get my drift: We French citizens are paying more and more in taxes and getting less and less in public services. Shouldn't it be the other way round? 

 Why do we put with this? Are we masochists? Or mere fools? 

On that Bastille Day I mentioned earlier in my post, King Louis XVI wrote in his diary: Nothing. The possibility that his family, having ruled the country for almost a millennium, could be out of a job just couldn't cross his mind. After all, for centuries French citizens would put up with all sorts of injustice and vexation and discrimination and high taxes (then paid only by the poor, the rich being exempted!) But then, one day, the people said "Enough is enough" and rose up.

Just as with Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. As a teenager vacationing in my mother's hometown in Romania, I would tell her, "Mom, I really don't think that people will put up with this for ever." And my mother would answer with a fatalistic sigh, "Well, look around. No country that embraced Communism has gotten rid of it." She was right...and wrong, since a few years later all Communist regimes tumbled one after the other, when people just said, "Enough is enough."

That is why I have every confidence that the Second French Revolution is on its way, and may arrive faster than we think. We will finally get rid of this discredited political class and its incompetent civil service partner in crime.

Covid: What I learned and how it will affect my outlook for 2022

BARCELONA

As we reach the end of Year 2 of the pandemic, I can't help but wonder what good, obedient citizens most of us have been and a fat lot of good it did us.

First, government told us that face masks were useless, so we discarded them. 

Then, we were told we actually had to use them. So, we complied (the Health minister in France responsible for this rigmarole, Olivier Véran, is inexplicably still in place. Scoop for my readers: President Macron likes to be surrounded by handsome men, gay or straight.)

Third, our dear political leaders put in place a flurry of restrictions including lockdown and curfews. Some governments got carried away and we were regaled with the height of absurd measures as seen in France with "self authorizations" where we sign a document allowing ourselves to go outside. 

Fourth, we were told salvation will come from getting vaccinated. We complied.

Fifth and sixth, we were told additional jabs will kiss the nasty virus goodbye. We complied with a second and third booster jabs.

And today, the last day of 2021 (actually 2020 redux) we are exactly back to square one with restrictions in place, Covid cases breaking all records. Sure, vaccination has meant fewer deaths, but we are now facing the very real prospect of society falling apart as many companies won't be able to operate correctly (we will probably look fondly on the supply chain issues we had in the past year.)

This is failure from our ruling class on an epic scale. Boris "Do as I say, not as I do" Johnson, Emmanuel "I love to listen to the sound of my voice" Macron, Joe "The Zombie" Biden, Angela "I'm out of here, anyway" Merkel, Pedro "How much longer can I stay in the Moncloa Palace?" Sanchez, Mario "Shall I be president or remain prime minister" Draghi, all have shown themselves to be clueless when dealing with the other great threat facing the human race collectively. 

I never believed much in the political class - and when it comes to France I stopped believing in it altogether in 2005 when they violated our fundamental democratic rights by canceling the results of a referendum: We the people decided we didn't want the European Constitution, and the French government (actually one man, President Sarkozy, and rubber-stamping Parliament) decided they didn't care how we felt and imposed their will on us. 

With two pandemic years under my belt, you will come to the same conclusion as I did: We don't care anymore what government says or does. So many rules are absurd and ineffectual, the results are so paltry that moving into 2022 here are my New Year's Resolutions:

- I will stop listening/caring about what our presidents/prime ministers/ministers and the lot say or do. 

-I will use common sense: face masks outdoors are meaningless, so I will NOT wear them - unless a cop forces me to. I will wear it indoors, I will be cautious, I will enforce social distancing. If I get a cold or some temperature, I can get a rapid test and no need to rush to full-capacity hospitals: a little fever and headache can be taken care of at home. 

- I will continue living my professional and personal life to the full. That terror that many governments want to instill in us to justify their existence is NOT going to work with me. I know what you're up to, you can't fool me.

-Make use of coming presidential elections (France, Brazil etc.) to throw the rascals out. Of course, there's no guarantee that whoever comes next is going to be any better but I'd rather give the benefit of the doubt to a new ruler than to one whose failed results are plain to all to see.

-I will hope for the best but plan for the worst - a principle that has guided me though most of my life - I see no reason to change that now. 

 Best wishes for 2022 - that may turn out to be 2020 - part 3. Or not. Nobody knows. We'll find out as we   get there. If we do. And if we don't, well, what a great ride it has been!