法國憲法委員會首度批准推行"富人稅"

President François Hollande’s controversial 75 per cent marginal tax rate on high earners has finally been given the green light by France’s constitutional council, clearing the way for its imposition on salaries above 1m paid in 2013 and 2014.

法國總統弗朗索瓦•奧朗德(François Hollande)對高收入者徵收75%邊際稅率的爭議性提案終於獲得法國憲法委員會的批准，這爲法國在2013年和2014年向年薪超過100萬歐元的僱員徵稅掃清了道路。

The council struck down the tax a year ago in a blow to Mr Hollande, who had made it a key proposal in his successful 2012 election campaign against former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

一年前，法國憲法委員會否決了上述稅收提案，對奧朗德造成了打擊。在2012年成功擊敗前總統尼古拉•薩科齊(Nicolas Sarkozy)的大選中，奧朗德將該提案作爲一項關鍵的政策主張提出。

Despite strong protests from business leaders and others that the levy symbolised an excessively high tax regime that was driving many people into exile, Mr Hollande’s socialist government reformulated the tax to make it payable by companies or organisations paying salaries above 1m.

儘管商界領導人和其他人士表示強烈抗議，稱它象徵着稅制過高，正促使許多人逃離法國，但奧朗德領導的社會黨政府對提案做了修改，提出由企業或組織負責繳納這項稅收。

This got around the constitutional council’s objection that it was unconstitutional to levy it on individuals rather than on households, as is the norm for French income tax. The government balked at imposing it on households as that would have greatly widened the number of people hit by the tax.

這繞過了憲法委員會反對該提案的理由，即向個人而非家庭徵收所得稅是違憲的。法國以家庭爲單位徵收所得稅。法國政府不願對家庭開徵這個稅項，因爲它將極大地擴大該稅收影響的人羣。

In a ruling published yesterday, the council said the reformulated tax “conforms with the constitution”. In its revamped form, employers will have to pay 50 per cent income tax on the portion of salaries they pay above 1m – other taxes and social charges will bring the effective rate up to 75 per cent. The tax, capped at 5 per cent of a company’s revenues, will apply for incomes paid this year and in 2014, before lapsing in 2015.

法國憲法委員會在昨日發佈的裁決中表示，修訂過的提案“符合憲法規定”。按照修訂後的提案規定，僱主將爲職員100萬歐元以上部分的薪資繳納50%所得稅，再加上其他稅收和各項社會費用，實際稅率將達到75%。該稅收最高佔到企業收入的5%，將對企業在2013年和2014年支付的薪水徵稅，在2015年廢止。

In practice, the tax amounts mainly to a political gesture intended to emphasise the extra contribution being made by the rich to help overcome the post-2008 financial crisis.

在實際運作中，該稅收主要作爲一種政治姿態，旨在強調富人應爲幫助克服2008年後金融危機做出特別貢獻。

It will raise only a few hundred million euros, including a significant proportion from football clubs paying high wages to their star players. Mr Hollande has said it was also intended to encourage companies to curb excessive executive pay. But it became a symbol for critics of the heavy increase in taxes imposed by Mr Hollande that has seen the overall tax burden rise to more than 46 per cent of gross domestic product, one of the highest levels among advanced economies.

該稅收只會爲法國政府帶來數億歐元的收入，其中一大部分來自嚮明星球員支付高薪的足球俱樂部。奧朗德表示，該法案也旨在鼓勵企業減少向高管支付過高薪水。但批評人士指出，這項稅收象徵着奧朗德的大幅增稅措施，目前法國總體稅收負擔已上升至國內生產總值(GDP)的46%以上，從而使得法國成爲發達經濟體稅收水平最高的國家之一。