France’s prime minister, François Bayrou, has proposed scrapping two public holidays as part of radical measures aimed at reducing the country’s ballooning deficit, boosting its economy and preventing it being “crushed” by debt.
Outlining the 2026 budget on Tuesday, Bayrou suggested Easter Monday and 8 May, when France commemorates Victory Day, marking the end of the second world war, although he said he was open to other options.
The centrist prime minister said: “The entire nation has to work more so that the activity of the country as a whole increases, and so that France’s situation improves. Everyone will have to contribute to the effort.”
France is under pressure to bring its public deficit, running at 5.8% of GDP, under the 3% figure required by EU rules, and to rein in €3.3tn of public debt – on which the annual interest, of €60bn, could soon become its biggest budget outlay.
No no no, you can’t tax corporations silly. That would punish them for creating jobs and wealth, they will leave the country and take back their jobs and then where would we be? Better continually lower corp taxes and Unleash the Magic™️ that will somehow cause budgets to balance themselves and jobs to spring up in abundance.
Is that how france does it too? I know that is the concept here in the states.
Almost everywhere these days sadly. If there are exceptions, I’m not aware of them. Tax codes are globally under fire because companies see them as an impediment to profitability, and not the foundation for how society functions and thus allows business to function.
Well, in the US the board of a public company has a legal fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders. And shareholders look for short term gains. So basically, if the company tried to do what was right for the long term, the board would get sued, and lose. After the united healthcare CEO got shot and killed, United started denying less claims. It was surely a short-term measure designed to help the company long term. A major investment company that owned a lot of shares is suing them for that specific decision. This kind of thing has lead to companies being controlled by people who favor short term wins, like lower taxes now, worry about everything else later.