I didn't know if the Soap Box was the right place for this. Depardieu turned in his passport this week because of the high tax rate he plays. I didn't realize this, but if you make over 1 million Euros the rate is 75%.

Here's the link to the article

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/world/europe/gerard-depardieu-says-he-is-giving-up-french-citizenship.html

Quote :

"PARIS — The actor Gérard Depardieu will be French no more, so exasperated is he with French taxes and the French government, he declared in an angry open letter to France’s prime minister on Sunday. Mr. Depardieu, who has been accused by France’s Socialist government of abandoning the country to avoid paying taxes, will be giving up his French citizenship and taking up residence over the border in Belgium, he wrote. Mr. Depardieu insisted that his move was not solely for tax reasons, but also because he felt the government believed that “success, creation, talent — difference, in fact — must be punished.” Mr. Depardieu’s decision to leave France, where the Socialist government has created a 75 percent marginal tax rate for incomes above $1.3 million amid stagnating growth, rising unemployment and a contracting budget, has drawn reprobation from politicians of all ideological stripes, as well as the news media and a good number of ordinary citizens. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has called the actor’s departure unpatriotic and “pathetic,” while the labor minister, Michel Sapin, deemed it the sign of a “form of personal degeneration.” In his letter, published in the newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, Mr. Depardieu said he had paid an 85 percent tax rate on his 2012 revenue and a total of 145 million euros, or $190 million, in taxes over his working life. “I am neither to be pitied nor to be praised, but I refuse the word ‘pathetic,’ ” Mr. Depardieu wrote. Mr. Depardieu, 63, who has been in almost 200 films and has won numerous awards, has drawn attention in recent years for his love of drink and several related episodes that caused him embarrassment."

Here's a Huff Post article

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/16/gerard-depardieu-passport_n_2311561.html


Not the whole article, but the majority of it

Quote :

"The letter, which the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche said was penned by Depardieu, quickly propelled him into the spotlight, not for his acclaimed acting skills but for raising the sensitive issue of tax exiles as France looks to fill state coffers with a stiff tax on the rich. "We no longer have the same country. I'm a true European, a citizen of the world," Depardieu wrote in the letter. He said his 2012 tax bill – 85 percent of his revenue – is fully paid. Depardieu, who turns 64 this month, said he has worked since the age of 14, first as a printer, and that in last 45 years he has paid (EURO)145 million ($190 million) in taxes. "I hand over my passport to you and my social security card, which I have never used," the letter said, referring to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. Last week, Ayrault called Depardieu "pathetic" and "unpatriotic" for the actor's decision to move to Nechin, a Belgian village barely a mile (1.6 kilometers) across the border from Lille in northern France. Nechin has drawn other high-earning French residents. The letter drew quick reaction but little sympathy. Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti said she was "scandalized" by Depardieu's decision to turn in his passport. "French citizenship, it's an honor," she said on BFM-TV. "It is rights and duties, too, among them to be able to pay taxes." President Francois Hollande plans to levy a 75 percent tax on revenue over (EURO)1 million to reduce France's budget deficit and debt, and Filippetti said, "Gerard Depardieu is deserting the battle in the war against the crisis." David Assouline, a spokesman for the governing Socialist Party, said of the actor: "He's playing his worst role." But Depardieu said in the letter that he is leaving his country because the government "considers that success, creation, talent ... should be sanctioned." “Who are you to judge me so, I ask you, Mr. Ayrault?” he wrote in his letter. “Despite my excesses, my appetite and my love of life, I am a free being, sir, and I will remain polite.” On Friday, President François Hollande took up the subject, calling for “ethical behavior” by French taxpayers and suggesting that France may renegotiate its fiscal conventions with Belgium. He also joked that French residents of Néchin, the Belgian border village where Mr. Depardieu has bought a home, should not get too comfortable. Mr. Hollande noted that the mayor there is also a Socialist."

I can't imagine being taxed three-quarters of what I make. I don't even know what bracket he was in to be taxed at 85%.

12/17/2012 5:16:25 AM

*Marginal tax rate

You only get taxed that rate on the money over that amount, that's how marginal tax rates work. You don't get taxed that rate on all of it, there is no situation where making more money nets you less.

12/17/2012 6:43:19 AM

I understand, I think..lol. If I make 0-1000 it's at X tax rate while 1001-10000 is at 1X tax rate and so on. Not knowing what brackets they use I don't know the total amount one would be taxed. But if I'm right that anything over that million mark is at a 75% rate till whatever bracket you have to be at for his 85%.

So if I make two million that first million would be at whatever amount and that second million would be at the 75% amount. I take that to mean I'd only keep 250,00 while giving the government 750,000. Is that right? Or have I got the whole thing backwards.

[Edited on December 17, 2012 at 7:32 AM. Reason : ]

12/17/2012 7:30:34 AM

There is no mathematical way to get 85% taxes when the top marginal rate is 75%. He might have transferred a sum of money to the government equal to 85% of his income in that year by including taxes from other years or a myriad of special circumstances.

12/17/2012 9:16:01 AM

I'm sure France has other taxes beyond the income tax, like us. My effective tax rate is always higher than the top tax bracket I land in.

12/18/2012 9:29:48 AM

I'm sure this one's going straight to Galt's Gulch to...act for them?

12/18/2012 9:44:51 AM

$190 million in taxes for an actor is way more than I would expect. And French politics/government do seem really frustrating. So, uh, good for Depardieu...probably should have left sooner and saved some of that loot though.

Somebody tell me something about Belgium. I know nothing about it except ridiculous/bizarre stereotypes.

12/18/2012 4:12:12 PM

They make good beer and like waffles.

Oh wait, those are the stereotypes

Meh. a forum I post at almost as much as this one has lots of euros including people from belgium. They seem socially pretty liberal but economically more conservative than most of northern Europe.

12/19/2012 12:01:49 AM

The weather sucks, the women aren't known for being the hottest in Europe, you need to know 14 languages to navigate the country, and there are 47 levels of non-functional government bureaucracy held together by EU pressure.

That said, the people are generally really nice and welcoming of foreigners (particularly in Flanders). When the weather is nice, parts of the country are really beautiful. And of course the stereotypes are awesome: Beer, Chocolate, Mussels, Waffles, French Fries

In reality, the town that Depardieu is moving to will be fairly similar to a french town. They will all speak french as their first language and will be culturally similar

12/19/2012 5:44:44 AM

The key to successful tax hikes is making sure that citizens can't leave or are severely punished/killed if they try to leave. France really dropped the ball.

12/19/2012 11:52:12 AM

what will you do once we have one world government with a 60% income tax?

12/19/2012 11:59:21 AM

12/19/2012 9:43:51 PM

So is this not a very similar predicament where the salary-based, and not investment-based, wealthy class face in this country. I am not that steeped in taxes, but under our policy aren't wealthy people that are rich from a salary (e.g. actors, athletes and successful artists) taxed at a much higher rate than those that invest? Is this not what is going on with Bogus?



[Edited on December 22, 2012 at 12:13 PM. Reason : z]

12/22/2012 12:12:54 PM

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/03/world/europe/russia-depardieu-citizenship/index.html

1/4/2013 7:35:04 AM

this guy will do anything for attention...

Quote :

"The French actor Gerard Depardieu gave the passengers on a CityJet flight from Paris to Dublin quite the show on Tuesday when he reacted to the news he would not be allowed to use a bathroom until after take off by urinating on the plane's carpet in full view of the cabin."

1/20/2013 1:19:44 AM

Class act, this fella.

1/20/2013 1:02:45 PM

He's french. Public urination is practically their national pastime.

1/20/2013 4:19:47 PM

He's so mad about the lack of freedom! He'll go to a free country! Like Russia!

1/20/2013 7:45:35 PM

niggling over the % tax u pay is sophomoric. Americans pay a large lost opportunity tax in place of that higher income tax. stress about paying for school, healthcare, having to lock everything up all the time, lack of efficiency, constantly being manipulated and robbed by big corporations.

it's all about appeasing a populace that can't hack it in a basic math class

1/20/2013 8:08:51 PM

Quote :

"He's french. Public urination is practically their national pastime."

as an individual that spent a semester in that country, i can vouch for this.

1/20/2013 8:24:32 PM

Studying abroad in a country that wasn't France also confirmed that French people in particular like pissing in public, regardless of where they are. Last year I was with a bunch of French exchange students at Cookout one night and like half of them ended up pissing on Western because they didn't feel like waiting.

Needless to say that when I was in France and had to pee, I did so on a building.

1/22/2013 12:21:27 PM

Jews pulling up stakes in France as well:
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#/video/world/2013/04/16/pkg-bittermann-france-jewish-exodus.cnn

4/17/2013 2:26:02 PM