Depardieu, Heal Thyself | Online Library of Law and Liberty

High profile, under the radar and the rule of unintended consequences.... The whipping of actor Depardieu (funny name depart-dieu means separation or leaving god) is actually hilarious. But the departure of this man out of the reach of the taxman in France should be instructional to folks. Who cares if he goes. He has maybe a decade of additional income and he works globally anyway. But really what this fellow is saying is that the government has no right to take such a substantial mount of a person's labor.

But really what we are missing is the unseen, overlooked and ignored other problems with government arrogance. First, who think s that they are going to just stop at confiscating high incomes? The next step is confiscate wealth and this is what happened in Russia 100 years ago and china 60 years ago. It is the beginning of the end of individual liberty. Second, there will be plenty of others without the stature or headline value that will also slip out from the taxman. Third, is the unintended consequences such as what is happening to Americans overseas, and that is that highly taxed and overly regulated folks cannot compete with those with lower taxes and without the additional paperwork and risk associated with doing business.

Why start a business in France if you fail the cost is all yours but if you are successful then the rewards go only to others? At least the French have good wines and can drink for entertainment.

Depardieu, Heal Thyself | Online Library of Law and Liberty