https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impôt_de_solidarité_sur_la_fortune#Bar.C3.A8me_.C3.A0_partir_de_2013 As of today it would be 1.25% on the 8.5million , than on a high income 45 % (41% over 71k a year and 45 over 152k) than social security taxes, which are scary, but I don't know how they work for retirees. I suspect wealthy french coming back now to Europe to live off their savings in a familiar environment would more readily move to the french speaking part of Belgium, where they would pay only a tiny fraction of what they'd pay in France without any hassle to settle there, Switzerland beeing a second option, more complicated and expensive
But my "hypothetical" banker would have access to French health care, etc when he came back and would have only paid the govt like 100k and saved like 2MM. After that he would be taxed on his gains like he would have in the first place. I'm glad zzzzz1 won't be doing that since he doesn't like progressive taxes when he is in his earning stage of life, but didn't mind it so much when he was in college.
The wealth tax is payable every year, so 100k a year for that (actually less than 100k after reading more details in the link, the tax will amount to a little less than 1% for 8.5million) , but sure the lower taxes in HK allowed the banker to come back with higher savings than he'd be able to manage had he stayed in France with a similar income in the first place.
Zzzz1 is apparently german, so it is not the same, but again progressive and high taxation in France is at the moment failing handsomely to give even nearly equal education and oportunities to its citizens. Hong Kong is probably better in that regard.
http://www.thelocal.fr/20131203/inequality-on-the-increase-in-french-schools " he French education system is more unequal in 2012 than it was nine years ago and social inequalities have worsened especially between 2003 and 2006. “In France if you belong to a disadvantaged background you are clearly less likely to succeed today than in 2003," the report concludes. The number of students who are in difficulty in maths stands at 43 percent in France compared to 16 percent in Australia and Canada for example. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds in France are not only likely to get lower grades, “they will also be less involved or committed to school and much more anxious compared to the OECD average. " see the graph on page 2 there : http://www.oecd.org/eco/growth/France.pdf And more recent tests results i've read don't look any better.
You know I don't disagree with most of what you are saying in this thread but on this point you are completely biased by your station in life. Not everyone and I'd argue less and less people care about a mortgage, car loan, credit cards and etc. It's telling of the worldview of those who think throwing more money at a situation will somehow solve it.
Sorry, didn't study the issue deep enough to understand why this is the case, just noticed the results, yet it is pretty obvious in today's France that there are several segments of populations which hardly mix with each other, and that best jobs mostly end up to people from a similar posh background.
Oh, make no mistake why I agreed to go to HK initially. Low taxes was definitely a major factor. Where I retire I will decide in the future, but wherever it will be I am sure that my spending and hence support for the local economy will outweigh the costs I will be incurring by (not) utilizing most of the benefits such as education or infrastructure. And I guess a street sweeper in HK is either a retired person earning couple extra bucks or else someone working a job commensurate with his/her educational background and aspirations in life. Again progressive taxes would not change a thing here.