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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (92154)	7/3/2012 10:04:20 PM
From: dvdw©	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217739

good for you...for me they looked stark and somewhat lonely.

To: TobagoJack who wrote (92154)	7/4/2012 2:51:18 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217739

France taxes big companies, rich to balance budget, $16.7 billion in extra taxes on big business and the rich on Wednesday to meet deficit targets and balance its budget by 2017. PARIS: The new French Socialist government announced $16.7 billion in extra taxes on big business and the rich on Wednesday to meet deficit targets and balance its budget by 2017. The government said the economy was expected to rally with growth of 2.0 per cent per year from 2014 to 2017. The figures came in a revision of the 2012 budget a day after the government cut growth forecasts for this year and next and warned of the "crushing" burden of deficits and debt. It announced $16.7 billion in tax increases this year and in 2013, a modest spending freeze and action to crimp a rise of public spending in coming years. The tax increases this year will fall about equally on businesses, notably big businesses, oil companies, banks, and also on private taxpayers. The taxes on households will fall mainly on high earners and the rich. The overall announcement was concentrated on tax rises. But in addition to freezing a small amount of spending this year, the government aims to allow expenditure, after including inflation, to rise by 0.8 per cent per year up to 2017. This is less than the trend of 2.0 per cent, the figure of 1.1 per cent which the socialists gave during the election campaign, and is well short of forecast growth from 2014 of 2.0 per cent. These policies are intended to reduce the overall ratio of public spending to gross domestic product from 56.2 per cent this year to 53.4 per cent in 2017. The Socialists won power from former centre-right president Nicolas Sarkozy with a campaign to switch the focus in the eurozone debt crisis from austerity to growth. They promised to reverse some reforms by the previous government, to increase some public spending, but to also respect commitments to the European Commission to correct public finances. The statement said that the public deficit will fall to 4.5 per cent of output this year from 5.2 per cent in 2011, and to the EU ceiling of 3.0 per cent next, and will be in balance in 2017. France has run deficit budgets since the 1970s. The public debt of accumulated deficits will rise above 90 per cent of output to a high point of 90.6 per cent in 2013, before falling to 82.4 per cent in 2017. The outlook for inflation this year was increased from 1.8 per cent to 1.9 per cent. Market attention was closely focused on the new government's policy, particularly in view of the pivotal role of France, alongside Germany, in the eurozone debt crisis. These figures are based on expectations that the economy will grow by 0.3 per cent this year, 1.2 per cent next year and then by 2.0 per cent up to 2017. At Berenberg Bank, senior economist Christian Schulz commented that the growth assumptions were optimistic, that the overall figures would leave the deficit-output ratio at a high level, and that the government was delaying "necessary spending cuts." He said: "None of the policies announced by the new government so far address the serious structural problems France is facing." France, he said, "is still losing competitiveness vis-a-vis the rest of Europe." Most peripheral countries in the eurozone had made "serious progress" in reducing their fiscal and external deficits but "France lags behind." He said: "The country needs a more flexible labour market and significant shrinking of the public sector to unleash the great potential of the private sector and regain lost competitiveness." The national audit office, in a report requested by the new government under President Francois Hollande and headed by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, had warned on Monday that the government would have to take extra budget action. To meet the deficit targets this year and next the government would have to correct its budgets by up to $54 billion in the two years, it said. On Tuesday Ayrault also downgraded the growth outlook for these two years, while blaming the late government for increasing the debt. Under the revised budget, taxes will rise to generate an extra 7.2 billion euros this year. A freeze on some spending will save 1.5 billion euros. Next year, tax increases will generate an extra 6.1 billion euros. This year, 53.0 per cent of the tax increases will fall on households and 47.0 per cent on businesses. Of the tax increases targeted at individuals, 73.0 per cent will fall on people with the highest wealth and earnings, the government said. A special surcharge on the so-called wealth tax will raise 2.3 billion euros this year, and the tax is set to be increased permanently in 2013. The government confirmed that it was withdrawing an increase in VAT sales tax planned by the last centre-right government. And it announced two measures raising a charge on a savings programme for employees and advancing a special tax on big companies. The first will raise 550 million euros and the second 800 million euros this year. And it did not rule out raising a general social charge called the CSG next year, although it has said it will not increase VAT sales tax. The government also announced a special tax on oil companies to raise 550 million euros. It also doubled for this year a tax on big banks which is expected to bring in an additional 550 million euros.