Taxes on some wealthy French top 100 pct of income

(Reuters) - More than 8,000 French households' tax bills topped 100 percent of their income last year, the business newspaper Les Echos reported on Saturday, citing Finance Ministry data.

The newspaper said that the exceptionally high level of taxation was due to a one-off levy last year on 2011 incomes for households with assets of more than 1.3 million euros ($1.67 million).

President Francois Hollande's Socialist government imposed the tax surcharge last year, shortly after taking office, to offset the impact of a rebate scheme created by its conservative predecessor to cap an individual's overall taxation at 50 percent of income.

The government has been forced to redraft a proposed bill to levy a temporary 75 percent tax on earnings over 1 million euros, which had been one of Hollande's campaign pledges.

Singer Of National Anthem Forgets Words, Powers Ahead Anyhow

via Deadspin: This is every American's nightmare. In Canada, though, the crowd is less than surprised. They can't really sing it, either, to help our absent-minded performer — hell, it's kind of a tough song. She is left to improvise, and "A Star-Mangled Banner" is born. Land of the free, home of the brave, play hockey.

Iranian wizard charges $500 to make man invisible during bank robberies. (with mugshot)

Never trust strangers. That is something most of us were taught by our parents or guardians at an early stage of our life, especially if the stranger says he is a sorcerer who can turn you invisible whilst you rob a bank!

Unfortunately, for one man in Iran, he made the mistake of trusting a fake sorcerer who convinced him that he was invisible and could rob a bank safely. The man explained to the court that he had paid five million rials (just under £290) to a wizard imposter, who in return gave him a set of spells to tie to his arm. The fake sorcerer explained to him that the spells would make him invisible, and that he could then rob banks all he wanted.

The man’s ill-fated attempt to rob the bank started to go wrong after he entered the bank and started randomly snatching money from the hands of customers, before they decided to act quickly and overpower the ill-fated thief.

The man told the court, ‘I made a mistake. I understand now what a big trick was played on me.’

Via Fark.

Meet the Partisan Union Behind The Partisan Internal Revenue Service

More at Redstate: 

Upon Barack Obama’s re-election, NTEU sent out the following press release:

NTEU Leader Applauds Obama Victory; Turns Immediate Focus to Upcoming Lame-Duck SessionWednesday, November 7 2012Washington, D.C.—The leader of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) today applauded the re-election of President Barack Obama.“NTEU supported the re-election of President Obama as being in the best interests of our country and of the dedicated men and women of the federal workforce,” said NTEU President Colleen M. Kelley. “NTEU is also pleased that so many of our candidates for Senate seats and our staunchest supporters in the House won their races.”NTEU’s efforts on behalf of President Obama and key candidates spanned the country. “Our 2012 election plan has been in place since the beginning of the year,” said President Kelley. “Many chapters and members were actively involved educating and organizing various types of activities around the country including candidate nights and volunteering for campaigns.”

According to OpenSecrets.org, of the $571,812 given to House and Senate campaigns by NTEU’s PAC, a mere $24,000 went to Republican candidates.

With regard to NTEU’s total political expenditures for 2012, perhaps this graph helps explain NTEU’s partisanship more clearly:

Must read Mark Steyn: The Autocrat Accountants

There is a “president of the United States” and a “government of the United States,” but, despite a certain superficial similarity in their names, they are entirely unrelated, like Beyoncé Knowles and Admiral Sir Charles Knowles. One golfs, reads the prompter, parties with Jay-Z, and guests on the Pimp with a Limp show, and the other audits you, bugs your telephone line, and leaks your confidential tax records.

If you believe this, there’s a shovel-ready infrastructure project in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.