French president Nicolas Sarkozy is getting ready to overhaul the country’s wealth tax system next year, and that could be great news for luxury property developers in the region. In fact, one leading developer is hoping to get a head start on the rush by targeting wealthy Europeans now with an aggressive campaign to “encourage them to make their homes in the historic lakeside town of Annecy in the Haute Savoie region of France”[1]. The tax reforms and subsequent new benefits to living in France could help attract both foreign investors and “wealthy expatriates by creating a “new tax haven…in one of the most beautiful parts of Europe,” explains London sales head Richard Dean.
Sarkozy has emphasized that he believes that it is France’s responsibility to the European Union to “strengthen the euro as our common currency and further develop it”[2]. However, with talks between France and countries like Germany ongoing but not appearing to generate any serious results, the French president is moving forward in his own country with tax reform in an effort to stabilize France’s economy, at the least.
Do you think that France could be the next tax haven for global investors?
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[1] http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/articles/luxury-development-set-to-surge-in-france-57648.aspx
[2] http://www.fundweb.co.uk/fund-strategy/issues/22nd-august-2011/new-tax-proposal-prompts-sell-off/1036506.article
