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France’s government and business
法国政府和商业
Angry pigeons
愤怒的鸽子
An online revolt forces the government into an embarrassing tax climbdown
在线的抗议活动迫使政府陷入税收让步的窘境
Usually it takes millions of demonstrators on the streets to force a French government to back down. This time it took just 65,000 supporters of a social media campaign. Calling themselves les pigeons, or “suckers”, French entrepreneurs mounted an online revolt last week against the government’s plan to double capital-gains tax to some 60%. In an embarrassing climbdown just days later, Pierre Moscovici, the finance minister, announced he would think again.
在通常情况下，几百万的群众在大街上进行抗议游行才会迫使政府为此做出让步。但是这次只有65000名在社交网站上自称“鸽子”，意为“傻瓜”支持者就完成了此项壮举。那是由法国企业家所发起的一次网上抗议活动，用来反抗上周对资本利得税翻倍至升至60%的政府法案。几天后政府窘迫的做出了一个让步，社会党人——财政部长 Pierre Moscovici,宣布，他将会就此作出讨论。
These indignés of the start-up generation, protesting not at capitalism but at the Socialist government’s plans to limit their ability to make lots of money, were inspired by a newspaper article by Jean-David Chamboredon, a venture capitalist, denouncing new rules in the 2013 budget. In line with a campaign promise by Francois Hollande, the Socialist president, to tax “work and capital” equally, the budget taxes all financial income—whether from interest, dividends or capital gains—at top marginal rates for higher-band earners.
对于愤怒的创业一代来说，这一系列的抗议行为反抗的并不是资本主义本身，而是对社会党政府的计划经济限制了他们赚取更多的财富感到不满。而这一切都是受到了一位风险资本家——Jean-David Chamboredon刊登在报纸上的一篇文章鼓动，他公开强烈谴责了2013年的政府预算报告中的新规定。社会党Francois Hollande竞选时承诺对劳资双方平等征税，与此承诺相符的是，预算对利息、股息或资本利得等各项金融所得进行征税，而征税范围越广泛，边际税率越高。
The article touched a raw nerve. A Facebook page was created, as was the Twitter hashtag #geonpi, French slang for pigeon, and the revolt went viral. “I’ve never seen people so depressed. They’ve had enough, they are leaving,” warned Marc Simoncini, an internet entrepreneur. The “pigeons” begged the government to understand that when an entrepreneur invests his money and hard work in a start-up and then sells it, that investment is not quite the same as the “sleeping capital” in shares that the government wants to tax so heavily.
这篇文章触发了人们的脆弱神经。人们甚至在Facebook和Twitter上建立了相关页面（在后者的标签为“#geonpi”，意为法语俚语中的鸽子），反对之声铺天盖地。跨国企业家Marc Simoncini说警告说：“我从未见过人们如此沮丧，他们似乎受够了，正准备离开”。那群“鸽子们”希望政府们能理解企业家们筚路蓝缕后出售家业。而这些投资并不像那些“沉睡资本”，但是政府却想对这一部分征税。
Mr Moscovici now says that he will lighten the burden on capital gains for entrepreneurs, though he has ruled out altering his plans to tax capital and work equally. “What we want to tax isn’t risk, but rent,” he insisted. The plan, still under debate, is to revert to the previous tax rate, but only if an entrepreneur holds on to his business for, say, five years.
但是Moscovici称他将资本利得上的的负担，尽管他要拒绝修改税收征管计划，他坚称：“我们的征税对象并非风险，而是租金”。而现在，这项备受争议的计划将要回到过去的税率水平，但其前提是企业家们持续经营达到约五年时间。
Had the fiscal revolt been led by established employers’ groups, it might have been dismissed as special pleading. The government was not much impressed by bosses who argued that the new 75% top income-tax rate was a disaster. But the pigeon movement captured the imagination thanks to its spontaneity, its grass-roots nature and its youth. The biggest single age-group backing the movement on Facebook was 25- to 34-year-olds.
而这次抗议活动如果是由那些商业巨头们领导的，可能会被当做一场特殊的请愿而被驳回。而目前，当企业家们认为最高达75%的所得税率对于他们来说是场灾难的时候，政府却对此不以为然。但是这场“鸽子运动”却因其自发性,草根性以及年轻化引起了政府的注意。多为25~34岁的个人在Facebook支持此项运动。
The French, who gave the English language the word “entrepreneur”, are deeply ambivalent about business. In popularity polls, they seldom cite any businessmen. School textbooks rarely portray companies favourably. The angry pigeons may help win entrepreneurs more sympathy in France. If not, if will not be just the pigeons who are stuffed.
法国，这个在英语中赋予了“企业家”一词的国家，却对商业有如此复杂的情绪。在一项民意调查中，他们很少用“商人”去称呼别人。而学校的教科书上几乎没有对公司有任何的赞美之词。“愤怒的鸽子”的运动可能会使得企业家在法国获得更多的同情。不然的话，被剥削的可就不仅仅只是这些‘鸽子’了。 翻译：周颖
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