During the Cold War, People from Russia and Eastern Europe fled to Western Europe to escape Economic totalitarianism. In an ironic twist of history, the reverse is now occurring. French actor Gerad Depardieu has left France and has obtained Russian citizenship. He did this because of the heavy taxes and regulation of France. Russia has a very Market friendly tax system his gave Depardieu the incentive to move to there.
MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin has cast Gerard Depardieu in one of the most surprising roles of his life — as a new Russian citizen.
The announcement Thursday that President Vladimir Putin has approved Depardieu’s application for citizenship is almost a real-life analogue to the French actor’s 1990 comedy “Green Card,” in which his character enters into a sham marriage in order to work in the United States.
But in this version, taxes appear to be at the heart of the matter. Depardieu has waged a battle against a proposed super tax on millionaires in his native country.
French President Francois Hollande plans to raise the tax on earned income above €1 million ($1.3 million) to 75 percent from the current 41 percent, while Russia has a flat 13-percent tax rate.
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“The distinctiveness of our tax system is poorly known about in the West. When they know about it, we can expect a massive migration of rich Europeans to Russia,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin bragged on Twitter.
An irony of history!
Tags: Gerard Depardieu
Does France have some kind of ‘departure tax’ on anyone giving up their citizenship?
mfhorn wrote:
So who are they going to send to Russia to collect it?? Inspector Clouseau maybe??
odd and sad that just 30 years after reagan wins the cold war:
“The distinctiveness of our tax system is poorly known about in the West. When they know about it, we can expect a massive migration of rich Europeans to Russia,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin bragged on Twitter.
@ coldwarrior:
What was Herman Cain’s campaign message, again?
oh, and nice icons.
Bumr50 wrote:
yep.
oh well, off to the salt mines.
maybe one day we will get our act together.
I was just in Russia last summer. Cranes all over Moscow putting up new skyscrapers. Mercedes and Lexus cars and SUVs cram the highways. Low unemployment and the stores are stocked with consumer goods. Toyota and Volkswagen are building huge manufacturing plants in Yarloslav….
@ 5 coldwarrior: That will get you slapped in most bars.
@ 1 mfhorn: I think it is pretty stiff. I remember 20 percent. But probably if his assets are liquid with yenta he can escape with cash in hand.
@ 8 Fritz Katz:
China will collapse to corruption next and all the big commies will become the new Bill Gatess’ The only haven left for the true socialist will be America.
If one can avoid corruption and get a second home where Laura lives Russia is a great place to get away from it all.
Bumr50 wrote:
Although his campaign got a little repetitive at times, the plan was sound. One of the reasons why I backed him until he was forced out of the race.
Fritz Katz wrote:
Wow, I’m envious…
coldwarrior wrote:
Sorry to disagree with you coldwarrior but the west didn’t win the Cold War. What the West won was a mere battle in a war that has been raging on and off for 300 years. The enemy is known by many names. Marxist, Fascist, Fabianist, NAZI, Socialist, Progressive Jacobite, Bolshevik, ‘liberal’, totalitarian, … to name but a few. There was really no WWI and WWII. It was just part of the same war that has been raging since the mid 1600s. The only difference is the tempo of combat and the variations in types of warfare.
It comes down to the war between the forces of freedom and individualism and the forces of collectivism , totalitarianism and elitist take over with the ‘people’ being reabsorbed into a new compliant peasantry.
@ 14 Aussie Infidel: You know that is exactly true. But how do indiviualists defeat collectivists or at least put them into a stasis? It seems like you need much larger than life heroes.
@ Aussie Infidel:
It started with Jacobin France.
In recent years Russians have become more and more important tourist group. They come in large numbers, spend more money and are richer than other groups (Brits, Germans, etc). Now if you know Russian, you are pretty much guaranteed employment.