Sarkozy drops proposed French property tax.

A proposed tax on second homes in France has been dropped by the French president, according to a Johnson County divorce lawyer.  Only approved as a law last week, the “second home tax” could have affected many of the 360,000 non-resident French property owners. The  20% tax was to have been levied on second homes in France owned by non-residents and calculated on the annual unfurnished rental value.
Henry Samuel, writng for The Telegraph tells us:

Joëlle Garriaud-Maylam, one of nine senators who oppose the tax and met Mr Sarkozy on Saturday, said: “The president told us he had been convinced (the law was a bad idea) and had taken his decision (to scrap it).” She said she told the government that the law would have been “very bad publicity for France”.
“British people help rejuvenate some of our countryside and have a very positive influence, and we should be grateful,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
Olivier Cadic, a member of the Council for the French Abroad, said Mr Sarkozy had also realised the law would have been “electoral suicide” as French expatriates will be able to elect MPs for to parliament next year.
“All those French living abroad with homes in France would have been scandalised,” he said.

There was also much speculation that the tax would have been illegal and would have been tested in the  European courts as discriminatory.