A tax exile row between millionaire movie star Gerard Depardieu and the Socialist government of President Francois Hollande hides a much older problem with French taxes.
To be sure, Hollande’s headline-grabbing 75 percent income tax band may well be prompting well-off French to consider lives as exiles in Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland or Britain.
But in moving to Belgium, Depardieu, like thousands before him, was only rebelling against far more entrenched French tax rules built up over decades by governments of all political stripes and which the exiles argue punish talent and effort.
Photo: Reuters
照片:路透
For some champions of business, entertainment and finance, the fact that they can pay much less in neighboring countries has won the day over national solidarity.
Yet while the wealth tax was introduced by Hollande’s Socialist mentor Francois Mitterrand in the 1980s, it really began to bite when conservative former prime minister Alain Juppe removed upper limits on total wealth tax bills in 1997.
(Liberty Times)
百萬富翁影星傑哈‧德巴狄厄和法國總統法蘭索瓦‧歐蘭德所領導的社會黨政府之間的避稅爭議,其實隱藏著法國稅務政策的更長久問題。
無疑地,歐蘭德所提出的百分之七十五所得稅率不但引起媒體高度關注,更導致許多法國富人考慮搬到比利時、盧森堡、瑞士或英國等國避稅。
但決定搬到比利時的德巴狄厄,跟在他之前的數千人一樣,其實都是在對抗更根深柢固的法國稅務法,這些法律是由各黨派政府歷經數十年時間所制訂,避稅者認為這種法律只是在懲罰有天份又努力工作的人。
對某些商界、娛樂界和金融業鉅子而言,只要搬到鄰近國家就可以大幅減少繳交稅款的事實,終究戰勝了民族團結心。
但儘管富人稅是由歐蘭德的社會黨前輩密特朗總統於八零年代所引進,卻是到保守派前總理亞蘭‧居沛任內才真正開始產生影響,因為居沛於一九九七年刪除了富人稅法案的課稅上限。
(自由時報/翻譯:俞智敏)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
On blazing hot summer days, fresh ingredients and cool refreshments straight from a refrigerator feel like nothing short of a miracle. However, chilled foods didn’t begin with modern refrigerators. In fact, the origin of refrigeration precedes the invention of this now-indispensable appliance by centuries. Initially, the quest for refrigeration was motivated more by the desire to cool beverages than to preserve food. The ancient Greeks and Romans, for instance, used snow stored in insulated pits to chill wine. Around the fourth century BC, the Persians made a significant stride in refrigeration techniques when they devised the yakhchal. Fashioned from
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of
對話 Dialogue 清清:時間過得真快,又是中秋節了! Qīngqing: Shíjiān guò de zhēn kuài, yòu shì Zhōngqiū jié le! 華華:俗話說得好:「一年容易又中秋」,就是這個意思。而且還有一句:「年怕中秋月怕半,星期就怕禮拜三。」每到中秋,新年就又不遠了。 Huáhua: Súhuà shuō de hǎo: “Yì nián róngyì yòu Zhōngqiū”, jiùshì zhèige yìsi. Érqiě háiyǒu yí jù: “Nián pà Zhōngqiū yuè pà bàn, xīngqí jiù pà lǐbài sān.” Měi dào Zhōngqiū, xīnnián jiù yòu bù yuǎn le. 清清:我是不怕禮拜三啦!眼看著週末就要到了,高興都來不及。只是過年又要老一歲了,這倒真是令人害怕。 Qīngqing: Wǒ shì búpà lǐbài sān la! Yǎnkànzhe zhōumò jiù yào dàole, gāoxìng dōu láibùjí. Zhǐshì guònián yòu yào lǎo yí suì le, zhè dào zhēnshì lìng rén hàipà. 華華:怕也沒用,該來的總會來的。看看嫦娥得有多老了,還不是代代相傳,直到今天我們還在「慶祝」她奔月去了呢! Huáhua: Pà yě méiyòng, gāi lái de zǒng huì lái de. Kànkan Cháng’é děi yǒu duō lǎo le, hái búshì dàidài xiāngchuán, zhídào jīntiān