3 ms·
I overall agree, except for one important caveat: one of the main incentives for high-tech investment in France is the "crédit d'impôt recherche", "tax break fo
by fab13n 13y ago
I overall agree, except for one important caveat: one of the main incentives for high-tech investment in France is the "crédit d'impôt recherche", "tax break for research". It's very effective, as it pays ~ 50% of salaries + charges for employees performing R&D duty.
But the fiscal services systematically target those who take this tax break, and it's pretty random whether they'll cancel it retroactively, up to 3 years after you received it. For startups, which often spend most of their money on R&D salaries, such a recall is often fatal. And qualifying for it makes or breaks many business plans. So it adds a considerable risk to an activity that's more than risky enough, in a country that already suffers from risk averseness.
Unfortunately, the department of taxes & finances a.k.a. "Bercy" is where the best graduates from ÉNA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_nationale_d%27administration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_nationale_d%27admini...] go, and ÉNA is also the alma mater of most French politicians: finance civil administrators often control politicians more than the other way around, so the latter don't seem capable to control the formers' destructive power.
- fidotron 13y agoI think this is the killer point. Quebec suffers from a similar problem, with the result being a disproportionate amount of time is spent working out how to claim the credits, and less focus on the actual work at hand. This overhead also means subsidiaries of foreign companies get the bulk of the credits too, with very little going to start ups in practice. It would be easier and better all round to have lower bureaucracy and business tax, and scrap the R&D credits, which would allow the market to actually function, but cynically I came to believe the whole scheme exists just to employ a load of accountants and government bureaucrats, not to actually achieve anything.
- alain94040 13y agoTrue, but even without Credit Impot Recherche, the salary of a French engineer is so much lower than in Silicon Valley, it's mind boggling. Labor is cheap in France. Now, if only the locals would get the culture of optimism that pervades Silicon Valley, they'd be going somewhere. There was a story on HN just the other day from a high-frequency trader moving to Silicon Valley. Lesson #1: everyone collaborates and is helpful. Not making fun of you and telling you that you are going to fail.
- nickff 13y agoWould the relevant salary comparison not be between France and the USA, instead of France vs Silicon Valley?
- nakkiel 13y agoDepends. France has the same sort of salary diversity as the USA. Paris vs. Bordeaux are almost two completely different worlds so while you have good engineers in Bordeaux, their price tag is probably about 3 times cheaper than their Paris equivalent.