French Entrepreneurs Slam Tax Hike

But what do people who create businesses and jobs know?

Campaigning for president of France earlier this year, François Hollande made no secret that he planned to raise taxes on large corporations. But he promised the taxman would go easy on startups and other small-to-midsized companies.

Now, though, entrepreneurs and investors are in an uproar after discovering that the new Socialist President plans a big increase in taxes on capital gains generated from the sale of businesses—to as much as 64 percent. "No country comparable to ours has such a punitive scheme," the French Private Equity Association said in a statement after the plan was unveiled on Sept. 28 in Hollande's 2013 budget proposal.