Lunatics Are Driving France Into Economic Suffering

Bloomberg Writes: France’s ‘Culture Tax’ Could Hit YouTube and Facebook

Should YouTube subsidize le cinéma français? France’s audiovisual regulator thinks so. In a report this week, the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) says that video-sharing websites should be subject to a tax that helps finance the production of French films and TV shows.

The so-called culture tax, totaling more than €1.3 billion ($1.8 billion) annually, is paid by movie theaters, broadcasters, and Internet service providers in France. The CSA contends that YouTube (GOOG), French video-sharing site DailyMotion, and their ilk are effectively providing video-on-demand services, which are already subject to the tax. And to the extent Facebook (FB) and other social media sites are content providers, they should be taxed as well, the CSA says.

Separately, France is considering a tax on smartphones, tablets, and other devices as another source of revenue for cultural subsidies. A government-commissioned report, released in May, said that a sales tax of 1 percent should be imposed on electronic devices capable of accessing movies, music, and other content. The proposed tax would raise an estimated €86 million annually that would be used to finance the “cultural industries’ digital transition,” France’s Culture Ministry said at the time.

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Superior Audiovisual Council to subsidize le cinéma français. Really France? Sounds like an organizations straight out of Nazi Germany. Plus, does anyone outside of France even watch French movies anymore? Even Gérard Depardieu was chased out of France and now lives in Russia.

In the past, I have left France alone, but their recent actions are going from worse to beyond ridiculous. Just recently (I believe today) they have passed a law that would require limo drives to wait 15 minutes after picking you up before they could actually start up the vehicle and drive away. This is, of course, to appease the taxi drives and their claims of unfair competition. Now, there is a talk about taxing Google and Facebook for their video distribution platforms. How do you say “insanity” in French? Please be aware that this is just the latest in the slew of new and “crazy” laws coming out of France and their new socialist government.

Simply put, we are witnessing systematic destruction of the EU second largest economy by the French Socialist party. I will go as far as saying that France is done from the economic perspective. Its citizens should expect a much lower standard of living going forward. Let’s see how long Germany’s economic engine can sustain the rest of the economic freeloaders within the EU.

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