François Hollande's Socialist government is facing a new tax revolt – this time not from big business protesting against the president's 75 per cent income tax band but in the form of a viral online campaign by small French entrepreneurs furious about a jump in capital gains taxes.
Calling themselves "the Pigeons" – French slang loosely translated as "the fall guys" – a group of internet entrepreneurs took to social networking sites to voice their opposition to the measure within hours of its announcement in last Friday's 2013 budget.
The cause of their ire is the government's plan to tax capital gains at the same rates as earned income. Jean-David Chamboredon, chief executive of ISAI, a venture capital fund, and leader of an investors' lobby group called France Digitale, said the result in some cases would be a jump in the effective marginal tax rate to as high as 60 per cent from 32 per cent for investors and entrepreneurs selling out of a business.
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