FRANCE LIBERTE, EGALITE MAIS VERITE ? " EVERY FRENCHMAN, " BY ANCIENT 
AXIOM, " IS WILLING TO DIE FOR HIS COUNTRY ; BUT 
NONE IS WILLING TO PAY FOR IT . " SO PASSIONATELY 
DO THE FRENCH PURSUE THEIR DEMOCRATIC IDEAL OF REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION 
THAT CHEATING LE FISC, AS THEY CALL THE INCOME TAX BUREAU, 
HAS BECOME THE MOST PERVASIVE AND ENGROSSING NATIONAL PASSTIME AFTER LOVE-MAKING 
AND A FAR LESS RISKY ONE . AS A RESULT OF 
THE CENTURIES-OLD DUEL BETWEEN CHRONICALLY STRAPPED GOVERNMENTS AND PERENNIALLY POOR-MOUTHED CITIZENS, 
FRANCE IN THEORY IMPOSES HIGHER INCOME TAXES THAN ALMOST ANY OTHER 
WESTERN COUNTRY, AND IN PRACTICE COLLECTS LESS : A MERE 14 
PER CENT OF GOVERNMENT REVENUE V . 60 PER CENT IN 
THE U.S . " EVERYBODY IS A CONSPIRATOR, " LAMENTED PREMIER 
(AND ONETIME BANKER) GEORGES POMPIDOU AS HIS GOVERNMENT LAUNCHED A FACT-FINDING 
PROGRAM CALLED OPERATION VERITE (OPERATION TRUTH), WHOSE MAIN AIM IS TO 
GET FRENCHMEN TO DO WHAT COMES UNNATURALLY TO REPORT THEIR EARNINGS 
. WHY, CRIED THE PREMIER, " IT IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO 
KNOW EVEN WHAT A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE EARNS ! " IN 1961, 
THE GOVERNMENT ESTIMATES, AT LEAST 36 MILLION OF FRANCE'S 46 MILLION 
PEOPLE PAID NOT A SINGLE SOU OF INCOME TAX ; BY 
THE MOST CONSERVATIVE RECKONING, 50 PER CENT OF THOSE WHO SHOULD 
PAY TAXES GOT OFF SCOT-FREE . EVEN MORE REMARKABLE, IN THE 
MIDST OF UNPARALLELED UPPER-CRUST OPULENCE, WAS THAT IN ALL FRANCE ONLY 
1,014 CITIZENS BARELY ENOUGH TO SUPPORT ONE OF PARIS' #$ #$ 
#$ RESTAURANTS ADMITTED TO EARNING MORE THAN $12,800 A YEAR . 
FISCAL CAMOUFLAGE . THE INJUSTICE OF THE SYSTEM IS THAT HAPLESS 
WAGE EARNERS, WHOSE INCOMES ARE RECORDED ON COMPANY PAYROLLS AND ARE 
THUS EASILY AVAILABLE TO LE FISC, SHELL OUT TWO-THIRDS OF ALL 
THE INCOME TAXES COLLECTED IN FRANCE . WHILE THE RICH GET 
RICHER, THANKS TO AN ECONOMIC BOOM AND THE NATIVE GENIUS FOR 
FISCAL CAMOUFLAGE, RICH AND POOR ALIKE MOST SHOULDER MASSIVE CONSUMER TAXES, 
SUCH AS THE 74 PER CENT LEVY THAT MAKES FRENCH GASOLINE 
(90 #$ A GALLON) EUROPE'S MOST EXPENSIVE . TAX REFORM HAS 
SELDOM SEEMED MORE IMPERATIVE, FOR THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS URGENTLY TO BE 
ASSURED OF EVER-RISING REVENUES FOR SUCH HUGE UNDERTAKINGS AS ITS FORCE 
DE FRAPPE, INCLUDING AN EXTRAVAGANT THREE-YEAR BUILDUP FOR FRANCE'S FIRST HBOMB 
TESTS IN THE PACIFIC, ANNOUNCED LAST WEEK . AT THE SAME 
TIME, THE ECONOMY IS THREATENED BY A BURST OF INFLATION THAT 
HAS BOOSTED INCOMES AND PRICES 11 PER CENT IN THE PAST 
YEAR AND THREATENS TO GET OUT OF HAND IN THE WAKE 
OF THE RECENT, SUCCESSFUL MINERS' STRIKE FOR HIGHER PAY . POODLES 
& PICASSOS . TO PUT TEETH IN ITS TAX-EXTRACTION CAMPAIGN, THE 
GOVERNMENT HAS UNLEASHED A HORDE OF EXPERT SNOOPERS WHO DESCEND UNEXPECTEDLY 
ON COMPANIES AND CAN SPOT A PADDED PAYROLL AS UNERRINGLY AS 
A MICHELIN INSPECTOR EXPOSING A WARMED-OVER SAUCE BEARNAISE . BUT EXPERIENCE 
PROVES THAT IT WILL TAKE FAR MORE RUTHLESS MEASURES TO MAKE 
INDIVIDUAL FRENCHMEN DIVULGE THEIR TRUE EARNINGS . IN 1947, WHEN ROBERT 
SCHUMAN WAS FINANCE MINISTER, THE GOVERNMENT DID ITS BEST BY INTRODUCING 
THE THEORY OF " EXTERNAL SIGNS OF WEALTH, " A WONDROUSLY 
COMPLEX LATIN FORMULA WHEREBY TAX INSPECTORS GAUGED A MAN'S RICHESSE BY 
COUNTING AND GRADING HIS SERVANTS, CARS, YACHTS, DOGS (PUREBRED OR MONGREL 
? ) AND DECLARABLE MISTRESSES . AS A RESULT, WEALTHY PARISIANS 
LET THE PAINT PEEL FROM THEIR HOUSES, PUT THEIR PICASSOS IN 
THE ATTIC, AND CLAIMED THAT THEIR PEDIGREED POODLES WERE USED EXCLUSIVELY 
AS WATCHDOGS, WHICH ARE TAXEXEMPT . (LE FISC FINALLY ABANDONED ITS 
HIT-AND-MISTRESS METHODS THIS YEAR.) WHEN THE INSPECTORS STARTED DEMANDING TAXPAYERS' FINANCIAL 
RECORDS, ARTFUL FRENCHMEN FROM PLUMBERS TO LANDLORDS RETALIATED BY INSISTING ON 
CASH FOR THEIR SERVICES ; THE MOST FASHIONABLE DOCTOR IN PARIS 
TODAY WOULD SOONER VOTE FOR SOCIALIZED MEDICINE THAN ACCEPT A PATIENT'S 
CHECK . THE GOVERNMENT'S BIGGEST PROBLEM IS THAT HONESTY, AS FRENCH 
TAXPAYERS SEE IT, IS NOT MERELY IRRELEVANT BUT ALMOST CERTAINLY DISASTROUS 
AS WELL . A HIGH-MINDED YOUNG PARISIAN ARTIST ONCE FILED A 
SCRUPULOUSLY ACCURATE TAX RETURN AND WAS HORRFIED TO FIND THAT THE 
SKEPTICAL LOCAL INSPECTOR, APPLYING THE STANDARD CORRECTION FACTOR, CREDITED HIM WITH 
THREE TIMES THE INCOME HE REPORTED . THIS WEEK THE GOVERNMENT 
PRESENTED AN AMBITIOUS PROGRAM OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM TO THE 
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, AND THE PERENNIAL QUESTION OF HOW TO PAY FOR 
IT ONCE AGAIN CAME TO THE FORE . OF COURSE, DE 
GAULLE COULD ALWAYS IMITATE THE ANGLO-SAXONS AND SEND TAX EVADERS TO 
JAIL . BUT THEN HOW WOULD HE RAISE THE REVENUE TO 
BUILD ALL THOSE NEW PRISONS ? 