“Money” is an iconic Pink Floyd song, written by Roger Waters, from the 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon.

Like most of my generation, I owned the LP and listened to it endlessly. I am definitely a fan of their early albums, which include this one, although for me, Ummagumma synthesizes best what I like about their music, the atmosphere they created.

This is the last section of the lyrics:

Money, it’s a crime
Share it fairly but don’t take a slice of my pie
Money, so they say
Is the root of all evil today
But if you ask for a raise it’s no surprise that they’re
Giving none away, away, away.

Given the topics of some interesting debates right now, I thought this theme was a pertinent one to introduce this issue. Many discussions are being initiated by newly elected Democratic Representatives in the USA, putting forward policies that much of the American media sees as extremist or radical. Yet even for conservative leaders in Western European countries, similar policies are considered as givens and therefore non-political.

This is an example of how different the USA and continental Western Europe are in their government and administrative structure. I hope it will not bore my readers if I once again elaborate on the definitions of socialism and social democracy. I cannot remember how many times I tried to explain it during our 2008 summer vacation in the USA, when the words “socialist” and “communist” were applied to Barack Obama during his presidential campaign. I am pleased to see a growing number of elected officials now explaining these concepts again and outlining what they intend to do if their policies are adopted. As a Frenchman, I take no stand on whether these policies would be good or bad for the USA and the American people.

AN ICON IN PARIS HAS PASSED AWAY – PATRICIA LAPLANTE-COLLINS
When I learned in early February that Patricia Laplante-Collins had died, and read so many remembrances from people who knew her well, I checked my records. She became my client in 1999, when she was still called Patricia Collins, and I helped her with the usual administrative issues foreigners can have in France. My last assignment for her was in 2004, when she was already quite successful with her new enterprise – Paris Soirées, a series of social and networking events that she held in her home or, later, in restaurants.

She invited me a few times as a speaker. The last time was in April 2005. By then she was focusing more on art and culture, Parisian stories and history, often from the viewpoint of African-Americans in Paris. Thus my usual topics, such as immigration, were a lot more boring than those provided by other guests.

I have known steady couples who met at Paris Soirées gatherings. Over the years, I followed Patricia’s several moves from afar, watching as her business grew and she became an icon for the American community. Even though not everybody attended her gatherings, everybody seemed to know about them. With her disappeared a cultural event that will be dearly missed by many. Rest in peace, Patricia.

THE OPPOSITION BETWEEN CAPITALISM AND SOCIALISM
The so-called new Democrats or young Democrats, or even Social Democrats, depending on what media one follows, are proud to announce themselves as socialist and be known as such. Only about ten years ago, that word would have disqualified any American politician: it was considered offensive and un-American. But Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist, ran in the last presidential campaign with a good deal of success. That showed vividly that something had fundamentally changed in American politics. This was confirmed in last November’s midterm election, when people were elected to the House of Representatives claiming to be associated in one way or another with socialism.

The word is widely being used inaccurately. Many Americans today talk about Venezuela as an illustration of socialism, when it is the Scandinavian countries that have best embodied social democratic ideals.

There are four main schools of socialism, which differ considerably.

The first was founded by 19th-century French Utopian philosophers; among the best known are Mr. François Marie Charles Fourier and Mr. Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.

The second we owe to Karl Marx, who took the work of the French philosophers and developed a historical prediction regarding the political future of the world. By doing so he established a new definition of socialism and elaborated in a new way on the historical concept of communism – a theory or system of social organization in which ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, capital, land, etc., are vested in the community as a whole.

The third version, which was in fact a perversion of the first two, was popularized by Hitler under the name National Socialism, better known by its German contraction, Nazism.

The fourth school of socialism was founded by the German Marxist reformer and social democratic politician Mr. Eduard Bernstein in the early 20th century. This is social democracy as best known today; in Wikipedia’s definition, “a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a liberal democratic polity and a capitalist economy.” The first government to fully embrace it, in the form of what became known as the Nordic model, was that of Sweden in 1932.

The USSR was founded on Marx’s theory, with private ownership banned and everybody working for the well-being of everybody. The country ended up being a terrible dictatorship that challenged the USA, conquering space before the Americans and wielding military and nuclear power, dominance in sports, and worldwide political influence. Its successor, the Russian Federation, has never achieved this kind of leadership.

Most Northern European countries have lived for decades with social democrat leadership. At the Nordic model’s peak, the Scandinavian countries offered security from cradle to grave when it came to money and housing. Education, health care, highways are free, housing is largely subsidized and unemployment benefits are part of life and enough to live on.

Many multinationals arose after WWII in Germany, which also adopted a form of social democracy, so clearly such a regime is not the enemy of capitalism.

The fundamental question being asked now in the USA involves a choice between two very different political visions.

One arises from the iconic image of the self-made American, alone, successful, with little to no interference from the state, which is limited to guaranteeing security with the army and police and to building and maintaining public infrastructure. More recently, the state’s role has been extended to financially taking care of the elderly and poor with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. All three are socialist by nature and were fought as such when created. Nevertheless, at this point the USA already has some socialist programs.

The other vision stems from the time of the New Deal and WWII, when the federal government got heavily involved in people’s lives, creating jobs and raising income tax to the highest level the USA has ever known. For a historical perspective on this critical issue, consider this: the top marginal tax rate was 58% in 1922, 25%in 1925 and 24% in 1929. In 1932, during the Great Depression, the rate was increased to 63% and thereafter steadily increased, reaching 94% in 1944 on income over $200,000, equivalent to $2,868,625 in 2018 dollars.

Today the American political debate is or should be about the legacies of two American presidents, Ronald Reagan and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (I realize this debate is affected by other issues, notably certain criminal investigations.)

Here are two examples illustrating the differences between the two visions:

1 – Health care
A large portion of the French worker’s earnings finance health care programs, but an even larger portion of the American worker’s earnings finance a similar package of benefits from the private sector. The key difference is that in France, the employee and employer combine to pay social charges and taxes, while in the USA, the employee and employer pay a combination of premiums (health and retirement plans) and taxes for the basic social protection part of the costs. It is generally accepted that public health care programs, also called single payer systems, are more efficient and cheaper, and often result in more immediate treatment, especially in hospital emergency rooms.

Covering everybody, as President Obama intended to do, would make the cost of health care cheaper in the long run because the fear of medical bills would no longer discourage people from getting regular checkups. In the long run, what originally seemed to be the high cost solution would actually end up costing the least. Since 1986, most banking and insurance companies, as well as the health care industry (health insurance, pharmaceutical firms and private hospitals), have generally chosen to act from greed alone and have not served the interests of the American nation. Should the USA ever adopt a single payer program, this would not make it a social-democratic country; it would merely mean it has added one more social program to the existing ones.

2 – The 2009 GM bailout
To take just one small aspect of the Obama bailout package during the Great Recession, did the “Cash for Clunkers” program have the desired effect of getting people to buy new cars and thus help keep car makers solvent? It happened that good business news came out after the program was implemented, and this resulted in rebuilding trust in the future and in the strength of the American economy. This good news gave hope to the public that a brighter future was near. Hope and the good news that nourishes it are important variables when measuring the success of an economic policy. If getting out of the financial crisis costs taxpayer money by subsidizing so-called “poorly manufactured American cars” and deferring the consequences of the free market system of supply and demand, then this is a small price to pay compared with having the crisis last for many months or years, destroying more lives and businesses.

This and other examples illustrate that socially motivated policies aiming for the greater good of the entire population have been implemented again and again in the USA and therefore are totally compatible with what the USA stands for.

I do not believe the USA can ever come even close to the extent to which social democracy existed in Sweden. But it is possible, and even probable, that more federal and state social programs can be added to the existing ones. Today more and more American politicians are advocating free education, single payer health coverage, decent unemployment benefits, maternity leave and so on. This would be no more than following the legacy of FDR. Yes, doing so requires raising taxes. This is probably the one critical political issue that must be addressed head on. The federal government also needs a lot more methods of preventing corporate money from influencing policy. I would like to remind my readers that in March 2016, more than 40 American millionaires proposed that New York raise taxes on the wealthy, under what they called a “1% plan for fairness.” I will address this issue further next month in a discussion of the latest Davos forum. For those interested right now, here is a link.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/feb/01/rutger-bregman-world-economic-forum-davos-speech-tax-billionaires-capitalism/

BREXIT IS HERE AND FRANCE HAS RULED 
Faced with the likelihood of chaos the day after the Brexit deadline, March 29th, France seems to have put together a solution in case there is no deal. British citizens who can prove they established their residence in France prior to Brexit will have a year to go to the prefecture and ask for immigration status based on the nature of their stay in France.

This is good news for the many I know who are still undecided and waiting to see what kind of Brexit is voted on. Most analysts now think the most probable scenario is “no deal,” which means the UK and EU do not sign an agreement addressing all the pending issues linked to Brexit. Such an agreement has yet to be endorsed by the Parliament, and due to the time constraints involved in reaching such a deal, the chances of this happening are now very slim.

British people living in France should not be worried about their ability to obtain a carte de séjour. Even though they will be subject to the regulations for non-EU citizens, there are so many grounds on which to issue one that it is almost certain they will fit one of those cases.

Nevertheless, I urge British citizens living in France to secure an appointment with the prefecture BEFORE Brexit. The difference is huge. Before Brexit the applicant gets an EU card, which offers all the rights to work and is issued on the basis of fiscal/legal residence in France. I repeat: After Brexit, based on the information I have, the request will be linked to proof that the applicant falls under at least one of the grounds for issuing a non-EU carte de séjour. That is not the same thing by any means.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND BEING A PROFESSIONAL 
As time goes by, I can see how old fashioned I am. This is how I see modern communication:

Emails are professional; I write them like I would write an old-fashioned letter, maybe a tad less formal. A text message is either to state that I am on my way to an appointment, or it is a private, non-professional communication. Facebook is volunteer activity; I end up getting clients this way, and to my mind, it is the same as clients coming to me by reading my column, which is free either by email or on my website. Facebook Messenger is the same, although when the questions are too professional for my taste, I ask to receive an email so I can address the issue properly. WhatsApp is great for sending pictures when I deal with the condition of an apartment or a building; I discovered that it can be a great alternative to Skype to have this kind of meeting. But aside from that it is more a personal and private way of communicating.

I do not mind appearing as old-fashioned – I have the excuse of turning 60 pretty soon. The key reason for my choice is that I prefer working with a format and size of screen that lets me feel I am drafting a professional document that has some structure. Being French, and having gone through my entire education in France, I need to write in an orderly fashion.

So please be tolerant of my inability to juggle social media outlets. Going through my website or sending an email directly is the best way to reach me, and lately just about the only way, as I have less and less opportunity to pick up the phone since I am usually in a meeting or outside the office.

MY DAUGHTER LUCILLE HAS LEFT FOR SOUTH KOREA
My daughter Lucille has left for South Korea. I have been very open about the impressive project Lucille has been working on for years now, to live in South Korea. She has gone without any sponsor or on-the-ground support. She has studied the country for years, and her Korean is sufficient for her to be autonomous. This is a huge endeavor for a 27-year-old: she will be living there for a year. My son went by himself to Ghana for almost two months, and my wife and I travelled extensively during our 20s. As we say in French, a new page in Lucille’s life has been turned.

OFFICE CLOSED FOR MY 60th BIRTHDAY
The office will close for slightly over two weeks for this occasion. It will start on Friday June 14th evening and will reopen on Tuesday July 2nd morning. As always, I will only be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters as I will be out of France. The service I offer of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed. I have not figured out how I will send the July issue considering the situation.

Best regards,

QUESTION

FILING TAXES IN FRANCE WITH THE WRONG ID NUMBER

I recently registered as self-employed through the URSSAF website. I am trying to contact Sécurité Sociale to find out how I can send them my dossier to get my carte vitale and be able to log on to my URSAFF account and pay my cotisations, but I’ve been run around to different phone numbers for three hours. One answer I got was that I’ll receive a bill, so I don’t need to declare. I really want to get this information squared away because I think I should be declaring my income and I want to make sure I’m doing everything right. I’m really frustrated and can’t get anyone to give me a straight answer about getting organized!

QUESTION

ILLEGALLY RENOVATING A HOUSE IN FRANCE

We are an American couple trying to buy a large property in the South of France. Just before signing the first contract (compromise de vente) with the real-estate agent, we learned that almost the entire main house burned and was rebuilt about five years ago, in 2013. The seller confirms that the structural work was done with contractors but without the insurance policy called dommage d’ouvrage and without any supervision of an architect. The seller also confirms the “smaller work” was done by family members throughout 2014, including:

• installing the heating system,
• upgrading the electricity network,
• creating two bathrooms upstairs,
• installing the wooden floor everywhere on the ground floor.

Finally, the seller refuses amendments stating that the seller retains the full responsibility for the complete rebuilding.

The property is perfect for running a B&B, and it would not take much upgrade to have a wonderful place to live and run such a business. Are we taking any risk going through with this purchase?

Back in Black was the seventh album by the Australian band AC/DC, released on July 25th, 1980. Malcolm Young, its co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter, died in November, although that did not motivate my choice of title. AC/DC fans are well acquainted with the brutal and unflattering lyrics this band is known for, associated with a heavy metal sound. The title song from this album is about disillusionment and having to come back to an unfriendly environment. How many Americans will feel this way traveling back to the USA for the holiday season? And how many Americans living in France will feel this way on their way back to France after the holidays?

HOW CAN A FRENCH BLACK FRIDAY EXIST?
The title of this column actually came to me when I was feeling completely exasperated at seeing “Black Friday” advertised everywhere in France (in English!). I wondered how many of people would even know what it referred to. How can you have a “Black Friday” if you do not celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday? The adoption of this term is totally insane and I believe it illustrates 100% bad taste consumerism. In the USA, many consider “Black Friday” offensive for various reasons, a tendency that has grown with every passing year. Some believe this is insanity in consumerism, citing the craziness when crowds – I would call them hordes sometimes – enter the shops. Others focus more on the idea that family life should take precedence over consumerism, as the day after Thanksgiving is usually a de facto national holiday. There are other criticisms, but I see particular merit in those two.

France does not celebrate Thanksgiving, and this holiday, unlike some others, cannot be easily exported, as it is part and parcel of the iconic history of the birth of the USA and the infancy of an early settlement in the New World.

So my choice of title can be understood in many ways. The very point of calling the day after Thanksgiving “Black Friday” is that it is the starting point of the Christmas shopping season, when many stores truly break even and get into “the black,” which means having money in the bank instead of being in the red! One can hope that small businesses will also go “Back in Black” and that they too will benefit from the seasonal improvement of the economy, at least in France.

I would like to wish you all
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR
I am looking forward to the year to come, 2018.
Like many, I feel that 2017 was a very hard year in which to stay focused on the issues that matter.

AARO HAS INVITED ME TO DO A PRESENTATION ON DECEMBER 18th 
The Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO) has asked me to speak about “Coping with French Administration” on Monday, December 18th, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM.

The event is open to the public. It will be held at Reid Hall, 4 rue de Chevreuse, 75006 Paris. For more information and to reserve a seat (€10 – seating limited, registration required), see.

https://aaro.org/events/upcoming-events/event/102-coping-with-french-administration

This is their text presenting the event:
“Join us to hear Jean Taquet, a legal consultant, talk about the ins and outs of French Administration regarding living in France temporarily or indefinitely. Topics will include how to get, retain, change or upgrade your residency status; become covered by French health insurance; open a bank account; be an employee, an entrepreneur, a retiree; and how to surmount the paperwork and the bureaucracy.”

HOW EMAIL AND SOCIAL MEDIA HAVE CHANGED THE WAY I WORK
I started my business in July 1997 when telephone and fax were the backbones of communication with clients, as they were in those days, for me and many others, the only immediate means of communication. I remember how we had a phone message notebook to make sure we called people back, and were judged by how quickly we managed to return calls. We needed a dedicated line for the fax machine; documents were sent this way.

Then there was the postal mail. Even today in France, a lot of things are still done by postal mail. Twenty years ago it was the normal way to send anything the least bit official. How often did we hear “The check is in the mail!”? It was the common way to send a payment, as wire transfers were complicated and expensive.

Today, corresponding by fax is an oddity, but it is still the only thing some divisions of the French administration accept, making them a laughing stock, and not just to Americans living in France. Postal mail is still important even though, as in all western countries, the volume of mail has considerably decreased. Even traditional Christmas letters are now rarely sent by mail, but go by email as an attachment and often with a lot more pictures! I still make sure I check the mailbox at the office every day, though the home one is more often forgotten.

I remember an American and a good friend of mine who used to live in Paris complaining about ten years ago that people dared to call her cell phone before trying the landline. The latter was the important one, and some of us can remember when many American homes where a teenager was living had two phone lines. Today I am rarely called on my landline; and the cell phone has replaced it. We have reached the point where calling is no longer our first reflex. Actual voice calls are now a lot less common than text messages and social media messages.

I freely admit that I have followed this trend, as I like writing. Professionally I favor emails by far, at least for now. I consider text messages and social media, in my case Facebook, as personal tools – non-billable ways of communicating. I have replaced phone calls with Skype or FaceTime. So do not be surprised if I do not return calls as quickly as I answer emails!

THE PUMA BILLING SYSTEM IS STILL NOT READY 
On January 1st, 2016, a form of insurance called protection universelle maladie (PUMA) replaced thecouverture maladie universelle (CMU), which had worked very well for foreigners who chose to sign on to the public healthcare program.

Since then, for many people, it has been a situation of URSSAF saying, “Your account has been closed; please refer to CPAM if your account is still open”; then their caisse primaire d’assurance maladie (CPAM) would reply, “Your account works well, you are covered, and we know nothing about billing – we are not involved with that.”

In other words, the answers people have been getting from CPAM and URSSAF have been murky at best, and “We do not know anything” when they were being honest!

As I have already noted, many of my American clients freaked out more than once upon hearing such statements. For them, their coverage was at great risk, since it had been months (now almost two years) since they made their last payment into the system. I fully respect their concerns, knowing how easily insurers drop those who do not pay their premiums.

In early October 2017, the people concerned received a letter from CPAM stating that finally things were falling into place and that billing would resume later that month. It went on to explain the calculation of the premium: 8% would be based on the 2016 income declared to the French tax office. Then in late November, many received another letter but from URSSAF stating that bills would be issued by the end of the month. As usual, they are not capable of meeting their own deadline, even though the French administration is moving, slowly but surely. URSSAF’s latest answer is that the first invoice (appel de cotisation) should be sent in mid-December. So I anticipate that at the latest they will be issued in January. The payments are expected to be made within one month. Always keep in mind that you can ask for a schedule of payments, even though these premiums are paid quarterly.

There is also the issue of foreigners holding a carte de séjour mention visiteur who do not declare income in France since they do not stay more than six months a year. I intend to investigate this situation, which covers several of my clients. If people are in France less than six months a year, they are not considered residents of France, even if they have a French address and a French bank account, and have held a carte de séjour for several years. For a while, the CPAM guidelines stated that even carte de séjour visiteur holders who declared income in France were not allowed to register. That nonsense has since stopped, but clearly they are still worried about proving French residence in terms of physical presence. Current applicants must send updated utility bills, internet bills and so on, three or sometimes four times, just to convince CPAM that they are indeed resident in France.

So this creates serious concern for people who are to renew their carte de séjour visiteur in the near future –in December and, most likely, in January. All they can show is a letter stating that they will receive a bill shortly, plus their claim that they have received nothing. As any junior lawyer knows, it is basically impossible to prove that something has not happened. So I hope we find a way out of this situation, knowing that both URSSAF and CPAM have been unwilling to help in any way. I think it will be hard to get a statement out of either of them explaining the situation.

I will keep my readers informed as things unfold, since finally, after almost two years, they are in fact unfolding!

DOES FRENCH GRAMMAR HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH SEX EQUALITY?
As far back as I can remember, since I was a very young boy, this issue has always come up one way or another. I was in elementary school when my mother stopped going to her gym class. There had been only women and so the teacher addressed them as “Mesdames,” but then one man joined and from then on the teacher called them all “Messieurs” even though the ratio was probably 30 to 1. My mother could not stand it and quit the class. Right now there is a very serious debate in France on whether French grammar should be changed so that it enhances equality between the sexes, mainly so as to address situations like the one I have described.

I want to stay away from this debate, as I feel totally incompetent as a grammarian, whether in French or in English. I would just point out that English as it is spoken all over the world stigmatizes gender differences a lot less. And yet Anglophone countries are facing sexual harassment issues as much as France, and many other countries, for that matter.

Women in many countries, including France, the USA and the UK, have been revealing sexual harassment and even criminal offences, by prominent men. Have Western societies at last reached such a turning point that there will be no going back? Perhaps, but it is too soon to be sure.

In the 1970s I saw the Scandinavian countries address gender equality in a definitive way. From education to the surrounding culture and the media, it felt like everything needed to change, pretty much overnight. These countries now face their own issues, mostly related to immigration and integrating the refugees who have arrived in recent decades. Nevertheless they remain steadfast on gender equality, in a way that is somewhat mindboggling for the rest of the world. I saw what it took for these countries to turn things around on this issue.

Clearly education – in the broad sense, not just in schools – has something to do with changing behaviors and expectations. The way language and grammar deal with gender affects people nearly as much as the way people speak and the words they use. But I am not sure that changing grammatical rules is the top priority in this matter. I might go so far as to say that significant improvement could be made without changing French grammar, which might be the right fight at the wrong time, when more urgent and effective measures should be taken.

On a totally different and much lighter note, I would point out that French is already quite complicated when it comes to mastering masculine and feminine. Adding another layer of complication will not make it any easier to learn.

For more info (in French), see http://abonnes.lemonde.fr/education/article/2017/11/08/apres-l-ecriture-la-grammaire-inclusive_5211949_1473685.html?xtmc=inclusive&xtcr=8

HOW TO FIND OUT WHERE A FRENCH WILL IS HELD 
Someone recently asked me, “How do I know if my deceased French resident client has a French will?” The American answer would be, “Who is their lawyer? Where is their safety deposit box?”

It is quite common in the USA for an individual to have a private lawyer, and many more keep valuable stuff in a safe at home or safety deposit box at the bank. This is mainly because most wills in the USA are drafted by lawyers and are witnessed, and thus in many ways are more public than French wills.

By contrast, the typical French will is handwritten on a completely blank sheet of paper by a person who is totally alone in the room. A French will is generally one page long, rarely more than two. So it is hardly an excruciating physical exercise, even now when few people write by hand anymore. One reason French wills are so short is that it is impossible to disinherit your children or, more recently, your spouse or to favor one child over another. In fact, there used to be so many limits that many thought it was not worth writing a will. The most common will, in my experience, pretty much just states, in this order:
1 – I bequeath everything to my surviving spouse.
2 – I bequeath the rest of my estate in equal shares to my children.

A notaire then takes this document and registers it, for a cost of about 30€, at the central database in Aix-en-Provence.

At the time of a loved one’s death, sometimes even before contacting a notaire, it is possible for a member of the family who is considered to be “the public” by the notaire profession, to check whether the deceased left a French will. However, it is only possible to see if the will exists and which notaire registered it. So it helps to know whom to contact to handle the estate.

Here is the site to check. One needs to know the details of the deceased and the closeness of the relationship to the deceased in order to get access to this information. A third party cannot get it.
http://www.adsn.notaires.fr/fcddvPublic/profileChoice.htm

THE FRENCH ADMINISTRATION WANTS TO REVIEW HLM LEASES EVERY SIX YEARS
HLM stands for habitation à loyer modéré, or low-income housing project. Most American or British people think of public housing as rundown, poorly maintained and dangerous. That is true in some cases in France, but the vast majority of HLMs are in much better standing. I know a few in Paris that look like quite desirable places to live, and there are HLMs in some of the most expensive districts of Paris. So people should look at French housing projects very differently from American or British ones.

However, it is true that there are problems with the HLM program. To start with, obtaining an apartment takes ages. There was a time when it took ten years except in a dire emergency. Another problem, linked to waves of immigration, is the lowest income families had top priority, which reduced social mixing and resulted in ethic enclaves about twenty years ago, which still exist today. At the other extreme, some Parisian HLMs lost tenants when the family income rose to the point that they were no longer eligible to live there.

In early 2011, an experiment started modeling the amount of rent paid compared to the income earned by the family so as to allow a much wider range of people to live in the same building. One positive financial effect of this experiment is that higher rent is being paid. It also helps keep the buildings in good condition, as people with higher means often have higher expectations.

Meanwhile, the solidarity and urban renewal law (SRU), passed on December 13, 2000, specifically article 55, obliged all major French cities to have a minimum of 20% social housing or be fined. The fines have risen with the passing years so that now only a handful of cities are not compliant. The most notorious one is Neuilly-sur-Seine, whose mayor has full support from the voters to pay the ever increasing fines, no matter how high. But this is a true oddity compared to the rest of France.

A new housing bill, into which the strategy is to be incorporated, is expected to be discussed by the cabinet by the end of the year. It would allow the HLM program to check their tenants’ situations every six years. It is meant to address a particular dysfunction in the system. Say that a young family with two small children gets a three-bedroom apartment. Twenty years later, the parents move out but one of the children stays in the apartment as a newlywed and starts a new family. The old parents still pay the rent and are considered on paper to be the tenants. This shows how much people cling to such housing, knowing how difficult it is to come by. Such situations are not being addressed because they do not create any incidents that would force the management to review who was living there. The biggest problem for HLM authorities is fluidity: People moving out should leave the place for people who deserve to move in. The system would be a lot less clogged if this happened. The proposed housing bill, to be discussed soon in the cabinet, targets exactly that.

It will be a long time before France restores safety and order in all neighborhoods, including those with high concentrations of the worst HLM projects. But I believe these kinds of actions, taken one after another, go in the right direction, although it will be hard to change the true ethic enclaves.

For more info (in French), see
http://www.lemonde.fr/logement/article/2017/09/18/locataires-hlm-le-maintien-dans-les-lieux-sera-reexamine-tous-les-six-ans_5187202_1653445.html

OFFICE CLOSED FOR CHRISTMAS
The office will close for three weeks for the Christmas holidays, starting on Friday December 15th, reopening on Monday January 8th. As always, I will be reachable by email for emergencies and important matters. The service I offer of receiving mail for clients will continue while the office is closed. I did not take much of a summer vacation so I have decided to take some time off, close to the normal length of my vacation. Of course, I will honor the prefecture meetings already scheduled, as well as a couple of other engagements.

Best regards,

QUESTION

OWNING FRENCH REAL ESTATE THROUGH A CORPORATION

I am a partner in an American LLC, which purchased a village house in France in 2006 through the establishment of an SCI. For a while now, we have been receiving requests from the tax inspector for information about the value of the property, the identity and addresses of the partners in the SCI, and the financial conditions under which a transfer of shares would take place. We have provided this information but the requests keep coming. Also, we have no idea what the current market value is. Since the LLC is owner of the SCI, to what extent are the individual partners subject to taxation if/when they decide to sell a share?

QUESTION

CHOOSING FRENCH HEALTH COVERAGE BY WORKING IN FRANCE

My wife and I are American retirees who permanently moved to France this past summer. Our primary income comes from our pensions and my Social Security. We would like to sign up for French national healthcare but are concerned about how much it will cost us. We have health insurance coverage from our retirement and, although it is annoyingly difficult to obtain pre-authorization for medications – we have to pay first and file a claim, and French doctors and pharmacies are baffled by it all – the amount we pay for the insurance is far less than 8% of our gross income. And that’s factoring in the additional premium we have to pay for the “Schengen” insurance that is necessary for the visitor visa (even though our retirement health insurance covers up to 90% of our health insurance costs).

My wife has dual American and Hungarian citizenship and I am American only. Although I have no plans of becoming self-employed in France, my wife does. She has her master’s degree in English and plans to start a business teaching English as a second language.

From the internet, it appears that she could become a micro-entrepreneur and, in that capacity, obtain French national healthcare. What is not entirely clear is, assuming she could do this, whether I could also be covered as a family member. Also, if she pursues this course, we are not sure if our US pension and Social Security income would be factored into the amount we would pay in social charges. Another issue is the effect on the healthcare coverage if she either does not earn enough money to sustain the business or terminates the business.