The French government is considering a so-called riot tax that would add the cost of frequent unrest to citizens’ insurance bills, a report states.
Many businesses and local governments have been left reeling in the wake of the deeply destructive Islamo-leftist riots in recent weeks, with estimates putting the damage from the looting, arson, and other violent acts at around €1.2 billion for the weekend of October 17th alone. The two days of rioting saw over 3,000 businesses impacted, with many facing the prospect of going out of business after multicultural gangs of hoodlums destroyed and looted their life’s work.
According to a report from French financial daily Les Echos, the measure is expected to take effect at the start of the new year and would add a 0.8 per cent “solidarity contribution” to the cost of insurance policies, including auto, business, and home.
The government reportedly hopes to raise €400 million from the scheme, with a maximum revenue target of €4 billion. As a benefit to those forced to pay for the riots, they will automatically be insured against damage to their personal property.
Although the expected tax hike appears to be significantly smaller than initially planned, the insurance charge was initially set at five per cent and later at two.
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how amenable the French taxpaying public will be to being told that they are going to foot the bill for largely migrant-background youths and the far-left.
During a debate on the topic, one woman told the Paris-based Europe1 radio station: “Sorry, but I’m in favour of making the rioters pay, not the citizens. It’s shocking and unacceptable. We citizens are already going to pay for everything with our taxes, I don’t know if you’re aware of that.”
A male caller added: “It’s absurd and scandalous. It’s always the same people who pay. We need to impoverish people, to bring everyone down to the same level, as low as possible. That’s all we know how to do in France. If the rioters can’t pay, we should start by cutting off benefits, etc… But that will never happen. That’s how it is in France. We live in a country of madmen!”
The conservative government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently enacted the principle of forcing rioters to pay for the damage they cause, issuing an emergency decree in the wake of copycat riots in Milan seeking to emulate the French chaos earlier this month.
Meloni said that for minors, the financial burden will fall on the parents, including by garnishing their welfare benefits.
Commenting on the law, Deputy PM Matteo Salvini said: “He who errs pays. Because he who smashes a shop window or assaults a sales clerk is not a revolutionary: He’s a fucking idiot.”
A similar bill is also moving through the French legislature. On Wednesday, the Senate approved a proposed law that would hold rioters financially responsible by a vote of 229 to 105.
The legislation would allow the state to impose fines of up to €10,000 on those who took part in violent riots, whether they personally caused damage or not.
The bill also allows for the seizure of welfare or state housing aid from those responsible, or in the case of children, from their families.