Racing in France has been canceled on Thursday, Nov. 7, in order to allow horsemen from the flat and harness racing sectors to participate in a joint demonstration against a potential tax hike, reports racingpost.com.
Horsemen are up in arms because the French government is planning to increase the totalisator tax, costing the sport up to 50 million euros per year. The ‘Stop The Tax’ campaign was initially shelved when earlier plans to increase the tax were voted down on Monday, but has ramped back up with news that a tax rise of some sort is still on the political agenda.
France Galop president Guillaume de Saint-Seine and his counterpart at Le Trot, Jean-Pierre Barjon, released a statement saying: “It is of huge importance that, through a strong show at Thursday’s demonstration, we make the entire political class understand that we will never give up when it is the livelihood of our employees which is at stake. We invite every member of the industry to join us at Place Denfert-Rocherau on Nov. 7 alongside the professional associations in the defense of horseracing.”
There is organized bus transportation from all over France to Paris, where the protest march will start at 1:30 p.m. from Place Denfert-Rochereau and proceed through the streets of Paris, ending at Place Vauban.
