Hollande stands firm in making top earners contribute to trim deficit

PARIS. January 1. KAZINFORM French President Francois Hollande on Monday stressed that the French wealthy have to help more in restoring public finances after the country's Constitutional Council rejected a 75-percent upper tax, according to Xinhua.
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In his first New Year Greetings message, Hollande said "it will always be asked for more (help) from those who have the most."

"This is the meaning of the outstanding contribution on the highest incomes that will be readjusted following the decision of the Constitutional Council, without changing its objective," he added.

Via high taxes on the rich, he wants to cut the public gap by 1.5 percentage point to 3 percent of GDP in 2013. But on Saturday, the Council ruled out 75-percent income tax rate on earnings over 1 million euros (1.319 U.S. dollars) per year, a key measure of Hollande's election campaign, saying it is against the equality in public charges.

The policy has been under attack after being recently approved by the government and has driven some wealthy citizens, including famous French actor Gerard Depardieu to seek tax exile in Belgium. "One of our strengths is solidarity. We owe it to the oppressed peoples. We owe it... to the most vulnerable, the sick, the lonely, those with disabilities or who experience insecurity or loneliness... They are citizens ...bruised by life," the president stressed.

The French president also declared that decreasing alarming number of jobseekers will be his "sole objective" in 2013. "All our forces will be mobilized for a sole objective: to reverse the unemployment curve within a year. We will reach that at all costs," the French president stressed, pledging to create state-sponsored 150,000 jobs for the poorly skilled youngsters from rural areas and 500,000 generation contracts to encourage companies to hire young workers.

Cornered by record high unemployment and limp economic activities, the Socialist president in 17 years, has insisted to reach 0.3-percent growth this year and to quicken the GDP by 0.8 percent in 2013.

The president also recalled three key decisions and efforts that have been made since his government came to power in May, including the rebalance of public account, the competitiveness pact and the control of finance.

Contributing in restoring peace over the world and bolstering investment in all sectors mainly in agriculture, new information technology and research were also major priorities on the government's new year agenda, according to Hollande.

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