SACRE BLEU! French Court Says 75% Tax Rate on Rich Is Unconstitutional.

President Francois Hollande’s 75 percent millionaire-tax is unconstitutional because it doesn’t guarantee equality for taxpayers, France’s top court ruled.

Hollande’s plan add extra levies of 18 percent on individuals’ incomes of more than 1 million euros ($1.32 million), while regular income taxes and a 4 percent exceptional contribution for high earners are based on tax households, the court said today in an e-mailed statement. As a result, two households with the same total revenue could end up paying different rates depending on how earnings are divided among members of those households, which runs counter to a rule of equal tax treatment, the Paris-based court said. . . . The decision could be positive for France’s bond market because it shows there is a limit to the government’s ability to raise taxes on the wealthy and may decrease the flight risk of more rich French citizens, Barbet said.

The constitutional court lowered a series of other tax increases, calling them excessive or saying they also violated equality of treatment for taxpayers.

Maybe Gerard Depardieu can come back. . . .