It is doubtful whether the violent scenes on the Champs Elysées in Paris over the weekend were a manifestation of genuine anger.
For many of the struggling, for whom a car is not a luxury or an indulgence but a precondition of being able to work, the Macron administration's increase in the fuel tax was the last straw.
The movement of the Gilets jaunes was spontaneous-without leaders, without a specified ideology, and without an obvious goal beyond the abrogation of the tax increase.
Macron has suppressed the capital tax on financial assets, which had probably reduced overall tax receipts by driving rich people from France; but in conjunction with an increased tax on the consumption of a vital commodity, he gives the impression that he unduly favors the rich at the expense of the poor.
Thus, taxes on capital, already proved ineffective because those who would pay them in any quantity soon decamp to friendlier tax climes, are still the solution that most favor.
It is perhaps no coincidence that the renowned economist, Thomas Piketty, who proposed a worldwide tax on capital, should be French.
Such a tax would close the escape route of the rich French and enable the government to shear them like sheep.
https://www.city-journal.org/paris-riots-gas-tax-increase
For many of the struggling, for whom a car is not a luxury or an indulgence but a precondition of being able to work, the Macron administration's increase in the fuel tax was the last straw.
The movement of the Gilets jaunes was spontaneous-without leaders, without a specified ideology, and without an obvious goal beyond the abrogation of the tax increase.
Macron has suppressed the capital tax on financial assets, which had probably reduced overall tax receipts by driving rich people from France; but in conjunction with an increased tax on the consumption of a vital commodity, he gives the impression that he unduly favors the rich at the expense of the poor.
Thus, taxes on capital, already proved ineffective because those who would pay them in any quantity soon decamp to friendlier tax climes, are still the solution that most favor.
It is perhaps no coincidence that the renowned economist, Thomas Piketty, who proposed a worldwide tax on capital, should be French.
Such a tax would close the escape route of the rich French and enable the government to shear them like sheep.
https://www.city-journal.org/paris-riots-gas-tax-increase
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