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Tax index finds the French 'miserable'

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19th May 2005
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French citizens endure the most "tax misery" according to Forbes, the American business magazine.

The magazine's Tax Misery and Reform Index has China in second place, followed by Belgium, Sweden and Italy.

The UK is half way down the index but, according to the Telegraph (19 May), it has risen one place "thanks to the freezing of personal allowances last year".

The paper's economics editor George Trefgarne observed that the UK's situation is "more serious" in the Forbes employee happiness index.

"For a single person earning '50,000 (£34,000) a year, [the UK] has fallen from number 16 in the happiness league table to number 19 this year," he reported.

"For a married person earning '200,000 (£136,000) a year, [the UK] has tumbled four places to number 27."

He added that the UK's "rise in the tax misery league and consequent drop in the competitiveness league" is expected to continue next year, according to Jack Anderson, the Forbes analyst who conducted the survey.

Anderson said "stealth taxes" will not show up until next year's overall tax burden chart.

Andrew Goodall
Editor, TaxZone

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By Simon Sweetman
23rd May 2005 12:25

happiness and the french
Since the French obstinately refuse to look as miserable as Forbes magazine demands, we might look for an explanation : which is that their index takes no account of what you might get in exchange for paying higher taxes. In other words it takes a US view of what constitutes happiness and misery.

A highly effective health system, trains that run on time, and the rest. Take a Euro perspective !

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