France’s Problem #114c
[tag]Johnny Hallyday[/tag], the french rocker and Gallic institution, the one with Elvis sideburns and shovelhead Hog, has rattled the political elite here by announcing that he is moving to Switzerland to escape the crushing french tax burden. He is the third in a recent spate of french ’stars’ who have gone elsewhere in the hope of keeping a little more of what they earn.
Johnny is an old pal of Sarkozy, which has given the Left elite a made-for-primetime excuse to express its numbing existential shock at this stab-in-the-back perfidy.
François Hollande, head of the Socialist party and Ségolene Royal’s partner (some would say her ‘insignificant other’) declared, “Sarkozy should be careful of who he counts as his friends.” Wow. This is powerful stuff, worthy of the very best french political punditry.
Sarko’s people of the right elite are expressing all the usual hand-wringing regrets but are fond of pointing out that rocknroll is a left-wing cultural phenomenon which proves that their main man embraces all sides of the spectrum.
Jean-François Copé, the center-right press secretary, came up with “ah oui, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, until one discovers that it’s artificial grass”. Wow!. These guys are good!
The Budget minister remarked that “it is hard to compete with certain countries on tax matters”.
And the minister for Employment and Social Cohesion was very very sad. Johnny has been one of his favs for a long time.
Everyone else in France, especially those small businesspersonnes who give 70% of their revenue to the state and submit to regular tax audits to make sure they understand the dynamics and moral worthiness of the [tag]French economic model[/tag], are wondering how Johnny lasted this long before deciding to go to where the artificial turf is greener.
