French taxpayers have grown accustomed to hearing Premier Jacques Chaban-Delmas exhort them to make sacrifices for their country and its economy. Thus they were a bit surprised to read in the satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné last month that Chaban had paid not a centime in income taxes on the approximately $30,000 a year he earned between 1966 and 1969. One year, in fact, he had asked the fisc (tax bureau) for an $800 refund. It was all perfectly legal; Chaban had only taken full advantage of exemptions contained in the country's cumbersome, inequitable tax laws. But as Le Canard observed,...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
