... via un(?)intended consequences, like the Brits many years ago:


July 24 (Bloomberg) -- French President Francois Hollande’s transaction tax is set to take effect Aug. 1. Not all investors will be paying it.

To escape the tax, many institutional investors will turn to so-called contracts for difference, or CFDs, offered by prime brokers that let them bet on a stock’s gain or loss without owning the shares. Traders have used it successfully to skirt the U.K.’s stamp duty.

“We’ve never purchased U.K. stocks without using a CFD,” said Fabrice Seiman, co-chief executive officer of Lutetia Capital, a merger-arbitrage fund in Paris that oversees $100 million. “Now we’ll do the same for French stocks. It is individual investors who are going to pay.” ...
http://www.sfgate.com/business/bloomberg/article/Hollande-Tr...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044347710457755...


Oh, interestingly enough, only the daily net purchase amount seems to get taxed... so day traders and HFTs might actually go unaffected, too.

SB
<pulling hairs out>

To escape the tax, many institutional investors will...

but, But, BUT we've been told taxes don't matter!
Over and over again we're told people (particularly the rich) don't mind paying taxes. How could this be?

Maybe it's something to do with all that "French cuisine" they're eating?

Desert (Gold is the currency of kings, silver is the currency of gentlemen, barter is the currency of peasants -- but debt is the currency of slaves.) Dave

6 months later, and it seems like the french are getting their act together, despite all the taxation drama - http://www.invest-in-france.org/us/news/new-measures-to-attr...

But still, it might be wiser to trade in mon seigneur Hollande's stocks using CFD's as a precautionary measure. I found this nifty CFD trading platform if anyone's interested in the subject - http://www.intertrader.com/cfds.html