Thousands of French protest rising taxes, job cuts in Paris
Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the French capital, Paris, to show their anger at rising taxes and job cuts, Press TV reports.
The demonstrators, most of them the employees of small companies and self-employed people from various parts of the country, staged the rally in Paris on Monday to protest against a series of taxes that small enterprises have to pay in France.
They traveled hundreds of kilometers to show their deep concerns over the future of their businesses.
“Forty seven percent of tax is really too much. The taxes are so high that we cannot hire [and] we cannot invest in our jobs. We have a long list of taxes to pay,” Businessman Marc Pierre Pizigeau told Press TV.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy came to power after promising that longer hours at work would lead to higher incomes.
However, many French workers say Sarkozy did not keep the promise and his successor Francois Hollande, too, has not made any difference.
“We are receiving letters from 1,500 to 2,000 people every day who want to commit suicide. That’s where they’ve reached... We’d like to pay our taxes in France but we won’t think things improve immediately,” said Pascal Geay, a protest organizer.
France, Europe’s second-biggest economy, is grappling with economic crises.
The French economy has been stagnant for years with the rate of unemployment hovering around 10 percent.
France’s austerity policies have put its citizens under more financial pressure. Sales taxes and retirement taxes have been raised, while massive cuts to social services have forced households to dip into their own pocket to cover for the government’s absence.
MSM/HJL/HMV
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