Regis Philbin
Jul 10th, 2007, 07:25 PM
What a novel concept! People actually working!
In the land of the 35-hour workweek, government-paid healthcare, government-paid pensions, that may be easier said than done... :rolleyes:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/10/news/international/france_work.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes
France needs to quit thinking and 'get to work'
Christine Lagarde purposes a tax bill that she says will lift the economy and calls for the country to stop thinking and act on ideas.
July 10 2007: 5:21 PM EDT
PARIS (Reuters) -- France's love affair with ideas has gone too far and it is time for the country to quit thinking and get to work, Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said Tuesday as she plugged a tax plan aimed at boosting the economy.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon's government has proposed a "shock" program in the land of the 35-hour work week to encourage the French to work longer hours after several years of lagging their European peers in economic growth.
Citing French writers Alexis de Tocqueville and Mirabeau, Lagarde said France spends too much time in contemplation.
"France is a country that thinks. There is hardly an ideology we don't have a theory on," she told parliament in a speech on the €10 to €11 billion package of tax breaks she expects will add half a percentage point to growth in 2008.
"That's why I would like to tell you: that's enough thinking, enough prevaricating. Let's just roll up our sleeves."
Employers say French labor and tax laws make it hard to create jobs, and discourage people from working harder. Lagarde said U.S., Japanese and Spanish employees spend 15 percent more time at work than their French counterparts.
The proposed measures, which include scrapping taxes on overtime and most inheritances, making certain mortgage repayments tax deductible and capping income tax at 50 percent, should be passed by parliament this summer.
In the land of the 35-hour workweek, government-paid healthcare, government-paid pensions, that may be easier said than done... :rolleyes:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/10/news/international/france_work.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes
France needs to quit thinking and 'get to work'
Christine Lagarde purposes a tax bill that she says will lift the economy and calls for the country to stop thinking and act on ideas.
July 10 2007: 5:21 PM EDT
PARIS (Reuters) -- France's love affair with ideas has gone too far and it is time for the country to quit thinking and get to work, Economy Minister Christine Lagarde said Tuesday as she plugged a tax plan aimed at boosting the economy.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon's government has proposed a "shock" program in the land of the 35-hour work week to encourage the French to work longer hours after several years of lagging their European peers in economic growth.
Citing French writers Alexis de Tocqueville and Mirabeau, Lagarde said France spends too much time in contemplation.
"France is a country that thinks. There is hardly an ideology we don't have a theory on," she told parliament in a speech on the €10 to €11 billion package of tax breaks she expects will add half a percentage point to growth in 2008.
"That's why I would like to tell you: that's enough thinking, enough prevaricating. Let's just roll up our sleeves."
Employers say French labor and tax laws make it hard to create jobs, and discourage people from working harder. Lagarde said U.S., Japanese and Spanish employees spend 15 percent more time at work than their French counterparts.
The proposed measures, which include scrapping taxes on overtime and most inheritances, making certain mortgage repayments tax deductible and capping income tax at 50 percent, should be passed by parliament this summer.