I was sent this article by the editor of a local magazine in Languedoc, blablablah, I understand the frustration this writer feels but would point out that living in France they are benefitting from a lot of things supported by these taxes – health, education, roads, transport, sports facilities – to name but a few, are among the best in the world.
I have felt the same frustration, but after living in France for 20 years I can see that by giving back to my “host” I cease to be a “parasite”. However, it is a shame that there is no encouragement for an entrepreneur in France, the employment laws have for a generation actively discouraged hard work and unions are clinging to a socialist fantasy – come on Sarko, “pull your finger out” (oops, that could be a bad choice of words).
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One of our correspondents suggests the French Ministry of Finance would do well to study Charles Darwin.
Parasites should never kill their hosts. This is the elementary lesson all parasitologists, she writes, learn on day one.
Kill your host and you have nothing to live on and your parasitic master race will be doomed. Unless of course you are a really rampant killer parasite and the death of your host and succour is just one more step to an easy life of living and breeding without the boring business of finding food for yourself.
But let us stick to the self interested brighter sort of parasite represented in this case by say the Ministry of Finance of a country with a rather high level of unemployment.
One might think France – with a stubbornly high level of un-employment might want work to be rewarding – attractive even..
Is this just another columnist rant?
You might think so until we take you through a real life example which makes one of our reporter’s wonder why she bothers to work.
Last year this reporter earned a stunning 1,919 euro for her words and pictures submitted to the excellent French News. Then, as a thoroughly fair sort of Brit, she felt she should register this lucrative enterprise with the State – not wishing to work on the Black and keen to contribute to this fine country.
This, dear reader, was the beginning of a great mistake!
Tax – of course – you declare it – no problem but then there is URSSAF – not a branch of the US military but the people who issue the Siret number you need to work independently in France and RSI another – pay us now outfit.
As corny papers say “imagine my surprise” when the kindly folk of URSSAF demanded, in January, a whopping 1,333 euro leaving the correspondent a mere 586 euro. Soak the rich eh – and the poor and struggling while you are about it too.
Then in February another parasite invaded – RSI – which also want to gorge on whatever mean reserves of food this damaged body has, with a demand for 1,077 euro.
So far my freelance work has cost me 491 euro more than I have earned. So next year I plan to give up my hobby of supporting the Republic – it is better, and cheaper not to work at all.
And of course the princely sum of 1,919euro has already been added to the family’s income.
We are bracing ourselves for the pension parasites who we hear might want twice the amount of URSSAF and RSI – a scandal if you want to reduce chomage.
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