France's new president wants a 75% income tax on the rich

This is way too extreme, over 50% this is considered as STEALING for everyone.

Even 50% of a millions makes half a million in tax which is more than enough to contribute to any country.

Since government bureaucrats seem ready, willing and supposedly able to rip money away from those who actually work for a living... including the middle class... they should start by trimming their own benefits and posh pensions. Anyone who believes they deserve a fully indexed pension after 8 years (2 terms) of "work"as an MP, or travel perks such as $16. orange juices (Bev Oda), or limousine rides ad infinitum should be guillotined. Vive La Revolution !!

Our costs for immigration and European migration creating overpopulation and unemployment are our highest and the most outrageous expenditure without which we would be almost on easy street. The reasons for not stopping this self destructing policy is votes. Our governments fear losing the votes created by immigration that help put them into office which offer them the self indulging benefits as pointed out by Elmo. If we and France were to stop all these immigration costs there would be no need to charge anyone 75% taxation of their income and more revenue could be used for creating employment and more income tax base. In any event government and bureaucrat pensions and salaries should take a deep cut.

How do you think socialism is paid for??? Wake up!!! They sure can't get it from people who won't work.
75% sure sounds good at election time to say you are going to tax the rich but do you really think that anyone smart enough to earn big money will let some socialist Bozo take 75% of it. dream on.

Even if they tax 75% of the wealthiest people they will still make 6 times more than the average employee. Like Frank said, the rich are a little to smart to get caught with this. They will most likely move to dubai or elsewhere where they can keep their earnings.

A Flat Tax that has been considered by many governments over the past 30 plus years begins to look better and better.
Regardless of income you pay 18% (Fed and Prov. combined). You only get deductions for RSP and CPP contributions, charities and direct work related expenses (ie uniforms, safety items) not provide by or reimbursed by the Company.
Just like HST/PST/GST etc. a Flat Tax applies to everyone regardless of income. The same % but the more you make the more absolute dollars paid. It shows no favorites.
No more deductions that only the wealthy can afford.

It will Simplify the tax process also.

I am sure there are many other considerations that will be brought up etc. but a Flat Tax I think would or could be a solution.

You can not simply state that a tax rate is bad with out knowing what the tax applies to. If its the top rate after deductions and lower rates apply to the first earned dollars, 75% may not be too high at all. You might recall that in the economy people vote with their dollars. More dollars more votes. When the collective result of these voted dollars is the financial mess that the world is in, 75% may too low a rate to ensure that there is a good turnover in the population of dollar voters.

Socialism is evil, it breeds lazy, useless eaters. Taxing the rich 75% is ridiculous and will NOT fly, I for one would leave the country and tell them to stuff it.

The will to work hard or maybe at all and the will to strive and take risks that society can benefit from is much diminished when the non-worker benefits almost as much from that work as the worker does. Rewarding the person who adds more value like capitalism does to a large extent has been proven to be the best system to gain more value for all. When this value isn't generated, the state (or individuals) try to borrow money to sustain a certain value of lifestyle. This leads to debt that cannot be repaid and/or must be repaid by confiscating existing wealth, much like France, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Italy are having to do, and the USA, UK, and Japan will have to do soon.

For those who think the answer is to pay people more without generating more value, I ask: are you willing to work longer hours and/or not own a nice house in order to pay someone $250,000 for delivering newspapers?

Maybe the gov. should look at them before starting taxing people. We Canadian are paying alot in taxes HST GST PST INCOME TAX IMPORT TAX FREIGHT TAX. the MPP has to stop spending out money stupidly. Maybe they should walk or take transit to work.

I pay 35% of my salary and all I ask is for the income earners of these extreme salaries to pay the same.By the time they use all the loopholes and tax havens they pay less % on their incomes.Is this fair.We need to gut the system of greed.

Taxing people is good as long as value for money is achieved on spending this tax revenue. Wasteful and unproductive expenditures by government may lead to more deficits and more taxes. Contrary productive use of tax money will generate more income for the people and wider tax basis for the government. So peoples sitting in Ottawa … don’t be short-sighted. Please think for our future?

Remember the Laffer Curve. This gives a pretty fair and reasonable guideline to tax rates. Go beyond it and large numbers of the taxpayers stop working hard and entrepreneurs stop investing risk money and move away.

Unfortunately, liberals and socialists don't seem to get this rather simple pricipal.

It is an excellent idea. The French have the best pensions because someone earning over $1 million euros is very wealthy and taxed accordingly! Boo hoo, if I was earning that kind of money, what's wrong with having a decent social system?

I am already paying $154 grand per year on income tax. What do I get for it? I work extremely hard for my income, only to give 50% of it to these lazy good-for-nothing moochers. What incentive is there for hard work? Oh, if you work really hard and work smart, we will penalize you and take a bigger chunk of your income away so that the lazy A-hioles in this country get something for nothing! Maybe I should have dropped out of grade school and sucked off of other wealthy people, rather than trying to make something of my life. And BTW, to those who are offended by my comments... bite me!

Unlike Mr.Weigel, I live with no delusions. First, many of the highest income earners avail themselves of the copius number of existing tax escapes that the midle income earners cannot share in. I wonder if Mr. Weigel has actually read the income tax act in the first place before spewing the standard rich mantra. For example, did you a know a business owner can take his income in dividends and end up paying 7 percent in total taxes instead of up to 50 percent. He is even allowed to borrow money from the company during the year, take the dividend payout repay the loan and do it all over again the next year. There are so many little loopholes that the rich can use they should be ashamed of themselves for complaining about Canadian taxes. Secondly, these rich people so be thankful they live in a country that allows them to prosper on the backs of the taxpayer who provide the laws, infrastructure and business climate in this country. In summation, the rich in this country are not paying their fare share and never have for years

All the people in the government fed,prov and municiple are like leaches. The more you give them money the more they waste it. They will NEVER have enough to be content. It smells like corruption omongst themselves GREED

Robin Hood needs to be killed and erased completely from memory.

I believe the time is now to rid our country of greed. If France is successful in this attempt to tax the wealthy, then other countries will try it. Sooner of later the whiners who have used and abused people to accumulate such wealth will realize that it's payback time. We must recognize the benefit that others make to produce a profit for any entrepreneur. One cannot do it alone. I have no use for people who claim they did it with no help from others. That is pure, utter crap. I also get steamed when people flaunt their wealth to prove how great they are. I don't believe in communism, but social democracy does offer practical answers. The bottom line to me is that if you have made a fortune in this country, you should be willing to pay taxes in accordance with your ability to pay. These taxes are used to provide social programs that hopefully will enable others to prosper, and then the multiplier theory takes over. Simple, but beyond the grasp of greedy egotists.

I agree a flat tax is fair and should be applied to those recevieving our tax dollar hand outs as well, why do i have to pay 35% income tax on what i EARN while others do nothing suck off my TEET .
First drastically reduce immagration ,no skill ,no entry !
Second cut civil servant pay and insane benefits immediatly ! and this includes POLITICIANS .....
Third legalize and tax pot!
Fourth stay out other countries sqwabbles and gut our welfare military,who do we think we need fighter jets to protect us from????????????????
My grand parents came here 100 years ago and they got SFA from the tax payers, and they did just fine and contributed by creating 50 fulltime permanant jobs for other Canadians still to this day!!!!And they never drove a taxi or asked to where a towel on their heads or a Bee Keeper outfit!!!!!!!