French Presidential Front-Runner Francois Hollande Looking to Introduce 75% Tax Bracket

Earlier today, the first round of voting started in France's presidential election. The first round of voting will see a list of 10 candidates narrowed down to just two who will eventually square off in a May 6th runoff.

The two candidates who are expected to make the cut? Nicolas Sarkozy (current President) and Socialist Party member Francois Hollande.

According to many polls, Hollande is considered the frontrunner to win the Presidency on May 6th, as many French voters are worried about the current state of the economy (high unemployment rate, etc) as well as the state of the European Union, amongst other things.

Hollande, as you may have guessed, is looking to appeal to the lower and middle income classes by claiming that the "rich" need to do more to help the country cut its GDP-to-debt levels to more manageable levels.

To help achieve this, Hollande has proposed a new marginal tax rate of 75% for those people who are making over 1 million EUR per year. Some people have already called this the "Buffett Rule on steroids". (note: The "Buffett Rule", which is named after Warren Buffett, was a proposal that was floated in the United States that would have seen people who are making over $500,000/year paying the same percentage of taxes as those from the middle class. Buffett has often claimed that rich people "such as himself" should be paying more in taxes.)

The proposed 75% marginal tax rate would only apply to income over 1 million EUR.

Hollande has claimed that this new tax rate is a matter of "social cohesion" and that those who might be paying it should feel a patriotic duty to do so. The measure would hit approximately 3,000 French households.

Filed under: General Knowledge