Politics.be - Laffer curve sabotaging heroic efforts of French socialists

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...ace-taxes-cuts

Citaat:

Gross domestic product probably advanced just 0.1 percent in the first quarter, according to the median of 28 forecasts gathered by Bloomberg News.

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An OpinionWay poll this week showed that just 18 percent of voters approve of [Hollande's] performance, an all-time low. French joblessness remains at a record of more than 3 million.

Fabrice Montagne ... trimmed his GDP growth forecast for the first quarter to 0.1 percent and his full-year prediction to 1 percent. “French GDP is likely to compare poorly with other countries as of the beginning of 2014.”

Barclays ... sees expansions of 0.7 percent in Germany, 0.4 percent in Spain and 0.2 percent in Italy. In the U.K., GDP surged 0.9 percent in the first three months of the year.

Voters are feeling the brunt of Hollande’s deficit-reduction plan in the form of higher taxes. French taxes increased by about 70 billion euros ($96 billion) in the last three years. Government levies amount to more than 46 percent of GDP, the highest in the euro area. The weight of the increases is being felt now as voters prepare their 2013 tax filings, for which the first deadline is May 20.