Evening star., 1922-07-02
SHOWS FRANCES
TAX RATES HIGH
NJ. Tardieu Refutes Criticism
in Connection i With Debts
to United states.>
FISCAL EXPERT ON WAY
Parmentier Coming to This Coun,
try to, Discuss Program of
BY ANDRE TARDIEU,,
Former French High CommissioneI
to the United States.

to the United States.
BY Cable TO The Star. Copyright 1922.
PkEiS. July IN. Parmentier of
.he ministry OF France has left for
the United States. He will confer
there with the American committee
on the interallied debts. The atti-
tude Of the French government need
not be repeated. We intend. as al
ways, to pay what we owe. France.
however, finds no difficulty in stating
to her friends why she cannot pay
Immediately.
While France owes huge sums, she
also is creditor in considerable
~nIodnts Suppose, for Instance, that
Russia and others to whom France
has lent should pay up. Then France
would be III a good position to repay
what she owes the United states and
Great Britain. In other terms, France
finds herself embarrassed in paying
her debts because other allies don't
pay what they owe her.
Germany Second Difficulty.
\ second difficulty is Germany.
France has collected practically moth
ing from Germany in two and a half
year. for reparations. AS her ex-
penditures for pensions had to be
made, she has had to borrow. Our
debt interest absorbs nearly 55 per
cent of our total revenues. and as
we will be obliged to continue bor-
rowing so long as Germany fails to
pay, ii is possible that in five years
our debt interest will total 20 to rs
per cent of our total resources.
Parmentier will give the American
committee all of the details of this
situation. He also will dispel an
Illusion that exists in certain quar-
ters concerning our fiscal policy. He
Will demonstrate that a careful eX-
animation will show that the French
taxpayer is more burdened than the
American
My calculations show that con-
sumption taxes take Is per cent of
every Frenchman's income. on the
average, while in America it totals
only 81 per cent. AS for the income
tax. the following example is signiti-
cant: on an income of 5000 francs
the French taxpayer pays, according
70 the city where he lives. from go to
120 francs. while on a salary of $500.
practically the equivalent the Ameri-
can pays nothing. On $4,000 francs
the Frenchman pays 2,716 and the
American nothing on an equivalent
income. On $4,000 the Frenchman
pays. according TO how he gets his
money from 81 to AZ per cent. The
American pays from is TO IL per cent
at the most
Higher Income Tax Rates.
For bigger incomes. like 100000
francs, we tax from 73 to SO per cent
when the revenue Is from stocks,
while in the United States it is only
b5 or at the most 65 per cent
We may conclude that the mass of
the French taxpayers pay more than
American taxpayers Your figures do
not compare with ours until you get
above 100000 incomes, and in
France there are not more than 100
men with that sort of income
My own conclusion is that the
Frenchman pays about three times on
an average what an American pays.
You may reply that doesn't alter the
fact that France owes the American
treasury $4,000, 100000. You're right
But the preceding figures may shed
some light on the problem which the
committee faces.