Taxation in France
Sm,—I have read with great interest the comments by M. Cohen on my previous letter. M. Cohen is entirely correct in his description of the French income-tax system as applied to wage-earners. But the pro- cedure of deducting the income-tax from salaries was actually in use in France not very long ago, and I clearly remember that it applied to my own salary at the time. My position now, as an international civil servant, is quite different, and my remarks, even if inaccurate in this particular respect, were offered from an entirely independent point of view. Moreover, I confess to be rather a layman with regard to fiscal problems, but I understand that French experts in this field disagree about the real nature of this income-tax, i.e., whether it is a burden for the employer only or, in the long run, foi the consumers in general. I am certainly unable to submit any solution of that prob- lem, but it seems that there is still no general agreement about it. I will not discuss the other figures submitted by M. Cohen, and I entirely agree that he belongs to a category of business-men who are unable to conceal any of their transactions. My point was not to give a complete list of all categories of French tax-payers, divided between " good." and " bad " citizens, according to the degree of their sincerity towards the tax-collectors. The total amount of unpaid taxes is very high in France. This fact being generally recognised, I simply wanted to point out that, according to the present fiscal system, we have in France two types of tax-payers: (1) those who cannot avoid paying their due, and (2) those who can conceal a part of their income. But I do not imply that they all conceal their entire income. However, M. Cohen appears to belong to the unlucky first category, and he is therefore entitled to my full sympathy.—Yours
Previous page
