3 ms·

The visa thing is nice. Simplifying capital gains tax is awesome. I can't say that I'm a big fan of the tax breaks though. We shouldn't subsidize any busines

The visa thing is nice. Simplifying capital gains tax is awesome. I can't say that I'm a big fan of the tax breaks though. We shouldn't subsidize any business, they should fail or succeed on their own merits.

notimetorelax 14y ago
It's a question of balance, if people want to see more new businesses to come around then it makes a lot of sense to lower the entry barrier.
edouard1234567 14y ago
I believe there is something somehow similar in the US where a founder gets a 100% exclusion from tax (up to $10M per taxpayer) for “qualified small business stock” held for more than 5 years. I think this is still the case.
fab13n 14y ago
> Simplifying capital gains tax is awesome. It _would_ be, but that's the part I'm the least confident about. Simplifying goes against the DNA of both France and bureaucracy, so I don't expect much of French bureaucracy about this; I expect the ministère des finances to reintroduce at least as many byzantine rules as they're forced to abrogate. The ministère is stuffed to the brim with [ENA alumni](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_nationale_dadministration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_nationale_dadministr...), i.e. people extremely well connected and well versed in stealth sabotaging of unwanted reforms. They've a strong track record of politically killing finance ministers who wanted to "simplify" them. > We shouldn't subsidize any business, they should fail or succeed on their own merits. Indeed, but big companies have an unfair advantage over small ones: they're able to influence regulation (especially if they can afford to hire ENA alumni). In a heavily regulation-prone country such as France, this advantage is so important that it stifles SMEs; some countermeasures are needed.
bvrlt 14y ago
Agreed with "own merits" but that would be true is competition was local. Once you start compete with Delaware-based company, tax breaks can help and make it more fair.

notimetorelax 14y ago

It's a question of balance, if people want to see more new businesses to come around then it makes a lot of sense to lower the entry barrier.

edouard1234567 14y ago

I believe there is something somehow similar in the US where a founder gets a 100% exclusion from tax (up to $10M per taxpayer) for “qualified small business stock” held for more than 5 years. I think this is still the case.

fab13n 14y ago

> Simplifying capital gains tax is awesome. It _would_ be, but that's the part I'm the least confident about. Simplifying goes against the DNA of both France and bureaucracy, so I don't expect much of French bureaucracy about this; I expect the ministère des finances to reintroduce at least as many byzantine rules as they're forced to abrogate. The ministère is stuffed to the brim with [ENA alumni](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_nationale_dadministration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_nationale_dadministr...), i.e. people extremely well connected and well versed in stealth sabotaging of unwanted reforms. They've a strong track record of politically killing finance ministers who wanted to "simplify" them. > We shouldn't subsidize any business, they should fail or succeed on their own merits. Indeed, but big companies have an unfair advantage over small ones: they're able to influence regulation (especially if they can afford to hire ENA alumni). In a heavily regulation-prone country such as France, this advantage is so important that it stifles SMEs; some countermeasures are needed.

bvrlt 14y ago

Agreed with "own merits" but that would be true is competition was local. Once you start compete with Delaware-based company, tax breaks can help and make it more fair.