2023-11-17 23:15:04
THE MORNING LIST
This week we are opening doors for you. Those of the “wonderful world” of the ultra-rich; those of the Eiffel Tower, which could have been called the Bourdais Tower if the engineer had not won his duel with the architect before the Universal Exhibition of 1889; those of the “Tatas”, who help lost toddlers take their first steps while waiting for a host family; those of Mark Rothko’s paintings, which open onto other universes; those of car manufacturers, finally, who are finding their way.
Behind the scenes of the great French fortunes
Image taken from the issue of “Cash Investigation” on the ultra-rich. F-TV
Dissect the tailor-made rules and tax privileges of the wealthy in France. This is the challenge of this documentary by Elise Menand for “Cash Investigation”. The director, under the leadership of Elise Lucet, does not skimp on the clichés, nor on the staging – extras portray rich and poor (champagne for some, popcorn for others) – to immerse us in the behind the scenes of this ” marvelous world (…) where France excels, where we break records, where we monopolize the podiums”.
The film starts at a gallop, on a racetrack – a meeting place for the famous “ultrarich” par excellence. Jockeys are adorned with the faces of Bernard Arnault or Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, the heiress of L’Oréal, the two richest French people on the planet. A certain Edmond Cash arrives, “at the head of a media empire”. Anguished by the tax rate of 45% of his fortune, he runs out of his mansion, a (small) safe under his arm, to escape (tax-wise) at the wheel of his Jaguar… « Hop, hop, hop, said the voiceover, don’t panic, there are tax loopholes that allow the ultra-rich to drop inheritance tax dizzyingly. »
Here we are at the heart of the matter. The real tax rate on the inheritances of the richest? It is 10% for the entire assets of the richest 0.1%, “thanks to a whole bunch of exemptions”, underlines Camille Landais, deputy president of the Economic Analysis Council. How can we be surprised, then, that France is the “third country with the most millionaires in the world” ? P. Ga.
“Cash Investigation.” The wonderful world of the ultra-rich », investigation by Elise Menand (Fr., 2023, 115 min). Available on France.tv until September 16, 2024.
Duel between iron and granite for the Eiffel Tower
Gustave Eiffel (left), in his studio in Levallois-Perret (image taken from “Eiffel, the war of the towers”). ZED
During the 19th century, in a race for gigantism that combined artistic ambitions, technical prowess and political aims, the great industrial powers seemed obsessed with the idea of building the tallest monument in the world. The dream of British, French or American architects and engineers? Build a tower that would reach a thousand feet, in other words 300 meters high.
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