The Pigeon Movement – A rallying cry for French start ups!

The Rude Baguette ^ | 01 October 2012 | LiamBoogar

60% Capital Gains tax – the real innovation killer!

Forget taxing the wealthy, forget big government, the French government is eliminating the one tangible reward for building new companies, creating innovation, and providing the French government with a few hundred new employees. This come at a time where France’s big companies are beginning to show their anti-global competitiveness roots - Peugeot is laying off thousands, Bouygues is laying off thousands, and this is just the beginning. For the record, the current Capital Gains tax is set at 32.5%, an 84.6% tax hike.

The Pigeon Movement – France’s Last Hope for Start ups.

In the wake of all this built up tension & disappointment from the startup community, a group of entrepreneurs put together a group called “Les Pigeons.” The group grew to over 3,800 members during the weekend alone - a gathering is scheduled to be held Sunday October 7th at 3:00PM in front of the National Assembly, and French startupers across the web have been changing their profile pictures to the pigeon seen to the right in order to spread the word.
According to Ruben Nataf, CM for Whoozer and allegedly the CM for @DefensePigeons, the group was started by Bluekiwi(Acquired by Atos | 04/12 for €20M) & Kwarter founder Carlos Diaz (currently based in SF), along with Whoozer CEO Fabien Cohen.
In French, the term “pigeon” is used to call someone a sucker – and it seems fitting here. Hollande has gone back on his promise to lower taxes paid by SMEs so that they will be less than big companies after tax breaks.