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Listening to French entrepreneurs, the usual suspects (labor laws, taxes...) are not so much of a problem. They all seem to rally around an kafkaesque bureaucr

Listening to French entrepreneurs, the usual suspects (labor laws, taxes...) are not so much of a problem. They all seem to rally around an kafkaesque bureaucratic nightmare of interacting with anything state-related... Especially orgs collecting payroll taxes... The stories I see, where you get nailed huge fines every year, for small nitpicky details. They all talk of nightmares where some admin comes and destroy their company with a single inscrutable letter...

simias 6y ago
I hear stories like this often, I can believe there's a problem here. It is true that we like red tape over here. That being said the problem with these testimonies is that you'll often hear people complain when something go wrong but nobody is going to tell you how great the French tax system is when it plays in their favor. It's... whatever the opposite of survivor bias is. People also like to deflect the blame away from them when their companies go under. When you don't have COVID-19 you have to find something else. But I'm sure that there are things that can be improved regardless, I just wish we were more constructive about it instead of just throwing the whole system in the garbage and lighting another cigarette while looking pensively at empty space Camus-style.
- touisteur 6y ago
  That's where I'm at (small improvements, minding Chesterton's fence) and I hope someday someone will stop listening to big French-capitalism-style conglomerates that are always trying to bring new laws, new contract types, to reform it all to make it more American, or German, or Danish... and start listening a bit more to SMEs. Of all kinds. And I also think part of the problem is overzealous government orgs, who I'm sure take their job very seriously, but are not encouraged to think mistakes are made with no intent to cheat, by default. I liked the idea of a 'by default we think you made a mistake, our laws and procedures are too complex, let's settle this without penalty, with a generous paiement plan... let's wait a bit before we punish you'... I don't know...

simias 6y ago

I hear stories like this often, I can believe there's a problem here. It is true that we like red tape over here. That being said the problem with these testimonies is that you'll often hear people complain when something go wrong but nobody is going to tell you how great the French tax system is when it plays in their favor. It's... whatever the opposite of survivor bias is. People also like to deflect the blame away from them when their companies go under. When you don't have COVID-19 you have to find something else. But I'm sure that there are things that can be improved regardless, I just wish we were more constructive about it instead of just throwing the whole system in the garbage and lighting another cigarette while looking pensively at empty space Camus-style.

touisteur 6y ago
That's where I'm at (small improvements, minding Chesterton's fence) and I hope someday someone will stop listening to big French-capitalism-style conglomerates that are always trying to bring new laws, new contract types, to reform it all to make it more American, or German, or Danish... and start listening a bit more to SMEs. Of all kinds. And I also think part of the problem is overzealous government orgs, who I'm sure take their job very seriously, but are not encouraged to think mistakes are made with no intent to cheat, by default. I liked the idea of a 'by default we think you made a mistake, our laws and procedures are too complex, let's settle this without penalty, with a generous paiement plan... let's wait a bit before we punish you'... I don't know...