– The taxman cometh: Hollande sets France’s ‘toughest budget in 30 years’ (RT, Sep 27, 2012):
The French cabinet recently approved its “toughest budget in 30 years.” The budget is a major political test for President Francois Hollande, who is resorting to a 75% tax rate on the rich combined with spending cuts to shore up budget deficits. France needs to make an estimated 30 billion euro in savings in its next fiscal year to reach Hollande’s ambitious target of reducing the country’s deficit from 4.5 per cent in 2012 to three per cent by 2013. The three percent figure is the EU’s mandated deficit ceiling for member-states.