I'm not sure that we are taxed more here than other countries, perhaps Plouasne can tell us about French taxes
French taxes you can reckon on about 12% of your wages going on N I, unemployment, old age pension, etc
A skilled artisan will take home before NI etc deductions about 1500€ a month
Income tax is a self fill in the form, and only one form for a married couple, there are a load of adjustments like a single person is one part, a married couple is 2 parts, if one of the couple is handicapped that's an extra part, children up to 16 years old count as half a part, (so a couple with 3 kids under 16; would be 31/2 parts) and depending on how many parts are on the tax return it can be up to about 36000€ before you pay income tax
you start to pay tax for a single person at around 8500€, and that's at 10%, we are a couple with my partner classed as 80% handicapped and we take in about 1400€/month 16800€/yr, and do not pay any tax, the income tax also incorperates the council tax, the only thing that we pay for is dustbin emptying and thats 168€/yr, about 75% of the working population of France pay no or very little income tax
For a self employed person you can reckon that its about 40% of what you charge goes to the state, thats why the hourly rate is in the region of 35€ to 40€/hr
The standard working week is 35 hours, to 39 hours, for a 5 day week, the minimum wage by law is 8.85€, there is no sunday working, overtime is strictly regulated no more than 200 hours a year overtime
If you are working away from the same commune that the office is in the boss pays for the mid day meal, about 10€ for a serve your self starter course, choice of at least 2 different cuts of meat, cheese, desert, and coffee, it goes without saying that there is fresh bread and butter, water, and 1/4 litre of red wine for each diner
Standard VAT rate is 19.6%, and its levied on everything, food is at 21/2%, books and papers is 5%, new house build is 5%
Food, wine, ****, and fuel are cheaper, but boilers, radiators, plumbing fittings to an individual are dearer, once registered as an artisan you can reckon on between 25% and 60% off the list price
Train fares are a hell of a lot cheaper
Retirement starts at 60 and at the moment my retirement pension is between 35% & 40% more than a UK O A Pension, to get a French O A P you only have to work for a French employer for a year
Hope that this helps
Now don't all rush at once, there is one fly in the ointment you have to speak French to a certain extent
Forgot to say that the French medical system has been classed as number one in the world by the W H O
You do need in most cases a medical top up assurance, for normal medical care, life threating cases are picked up by the state
To see a doctor its 22€,75% of this is reimbursed by the state, if you are in the system, hospital care and food is charged at 20€/day 75% id again picked up by the state, you pay and get reimbursed later, unless you are on very low pay, the cut off point is about 13000€/year, dentists and opthalmic specialists are about 25€ a visit, a home visit from a nurse for blood samples id 7.50€, but if you have a life threatining medical condition like diabetes you are allowed 4 visits to the dentist, and a yearly check up by an opthalmic specialist free; pluss a free taxi to the specialists
Medical cover cost for the pair of us is in the region of 900€ a year
There is no car tax, fuel is slightly cheaper, and the M O T starts after 4 years, and its a 2 year visit cost is about 40€
If you retire to France with a UK pension, its a slightly different ball game, because the UK government pays so much a year to France for the UK OAP's medical treatment, so for those who retire to France, most if not all their medical treatment is free
You would still have to fill in a French tax return every year, showing your worldly income, there are double taxation treaties in place which stops you paying tax twice
I think that I have covered most of what has been asked about the tax situation in France
