France unveils austerity budget

Posted on Sep 29, 2012 in Business | 0 comments

France unveiled a plan Friday that will raise taxes and cut public spending to reduce the country’s budget deficit.

The austerity budget is designed to create $39 billion in savings that would reduce the country’s budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product by the end of next year, Radio France Internationale reported.

French President Francois Hollande’s office said one-third of the savings would come from cuts to public spending and the rest would come from taxes on companies and high-earning individuals, CNN reported.

“It’s a combat budget to fight against a debt that only continues to increase and that rests on the shoulders of French taxpayers and generations to come,” French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters Friday, CNN said.

Ayrault said the working and middle class families have been exempted from the revenue tax.

“Nine households out of 10 … will not be taxed further, this is the guarantee that we are giving to the French people,” he said.

Copyright 2012 by United Press International