anchor: israel mourns the deaths of at least 45 people fresh -- crushed in the stampede at a religious festival. pray mr. netanyahu has promised an investigation into what he calls one of the nation's worst disasters. the palestinian president delays planned elections, laming a dispute with israel. palestinians last voted in 2006. the french president says covid vaccines will be open to all adults from june 15 as the

country prepares to reopen while battling a third wave of infections. thank you for joining us. at least 45 people have died in the stampede at a religious festival in india. dozens were injured, a day of mourning is announced for sunday. prime minister netanyahu has promised an investigation into what he calls one of the nation's worst disasters. tens of thousands of ultra or docs jews attended the festival, the largest gathering held in israel since the start of the pandemic. reporter: arriving at mount meron, prime minister netanyahu called it one of israel's worst disasters. >> what happened here is heartbreaking. people were squashed to death, that included children. many of those who were killed have not been identified yet.

i must demand a quick response from the police and emergency services, they prevented a must -- they prevented a much heavier disaster. reporter: sunday has been declared a day of national mourning. >> this is the control center. please follow the procedure for serious cases. reporter: those who made their way out recalled the chaos of the night before. >> it felt likwe were on a merry-go-round -- everyone's pushing to the right into the left. after 20 minutes, some started suffocating. he wanted to get out but there were people'neath me who stopped breathing. reporter: footage shows crowds struggling to move through the lanes of the event. tens of thousands of people, most of them ultra orthodox jews which -- and a festival that owners a second century rabbi and sage. the local media said over

100,000 people took part in the all night prayer and dance. in between 19, the number of attendees was much higher, around 250,000. some have since returned to the festivities. it's the first mass religious gathering since israel lifted covid related restrictions. julia: the palestinian president has announced he would delay planned elections, blaming a dispute with israel over voting against jerusalem. france, germany, italy, and spain have urged him to set new data as soon as possible. this comes amid problems of -- in the party facing hamas. palestinians were going to pass -- were going to cast their ballots for the first time in 15 years. here is their reaction.

[speaking non-english language] julia: to speak -- to speak more about this, we can bring in the associate fellow at chesser house. how much of the decision to postpone these elections actually has to do with israel? guest: let me first express my sincere condolences to those who law -- who lost their loved ones

today. as to your question, i think these elections are crucial. as you mentioned earlier, 15 years, elections have not been held in palestine. there a democratic deficit and legitimacy deficit among palestinians. the separation between gaza and the west bank, it weakens the palestinians and elections could have created new momentum in the ability of the palestinian political entity to become stronger and be able to negotiate with the israelis from a position of power. i think canceling the election would weaken things. i understand the reason behind their frustration, not enabling

the residents of jerusalem to participate. julia: if holding the elections would strengthen their position, why has mahmoud abbas delay the elections? guest: he has been there for way too long. he is aging, at the age of 85, i'm not so sure he wants to face election. again, the right to vote is essential and israel should not provide -- should not deprive them of their basic rights to vote, but he looks at public opinion polls and they don't necessarily play into his hands. it would legitimately back hamas into the political system in

palestine and they were left to share hours there. julia: what would this mean for palestinians if elections were postponed indefinitely? guest: one of the tragedies is a prevailing apathy among palestinians anyway. you talk to palestinians and they never believe there are going to be elections. four months ago, they felt the election was not going to take place. but,t the end of the day, it creates more frustration and we know what happens in history when millions of people became more and more frustrated. this is the biggest fear. on one side you have apathy and on the other, you have a growing frustration. one way or another, they will take it out against the

palestinian authority or against israel. julia: what does israel stand to gain or lose from the delay of these elections? guest: israel would like the status quo to prevail and to continue. because at the end of the day, the palestinian authority are subcontractors of israel's security. the cooperation with security continues and they don't need to negotiate on the need to make concessions as part of it. so the status quo serves the israeli government. anyone with any common sense would understand it's important for israel to see a political system that can negotiate and entail justice and serve both

palestinians and israel. julia: thank you very much for speaking with us. moving on, afghan officials say a suicide bomber has killed at least 14 people and wounded some 90 others. attack took place at a guesthouse in eastern logo are province. no one has claimed responsibility, but it comes on the eve of the withdrawal of u.s. and nato troops from afghanistan. american troops aim to fully leave the country by september 11 at the latest. here in france, the country is widening its vaccination campaign as the government prepares for a gradual reopening. nearly a third of the population has received one dose of vaccine. president macron announced all adults with chronic health conditions could get vaccinated and from june 15, all adults over 18 will be eligible for a job. reporter: the 15th of june --

the day when all adults in france can sign up to get vaccinated. president underlined the goal in a tweet as the country prepares to widen its inoculation campaign stop people age 50 or over will be able to get jabs from the 15th of may and vaccines are opening up to all adults from this weekend. >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] reporter: those suffering from high blood pressure, heart conditions, diabetes, or cancer are eligible, opening up vaccines to an estimated 4 million people. >> [speaking french]

reporter: prioritizing the most vulnerable before eventually offering vaccines to everyone -- an ambitious target the french government hopes to meet as an up to gradually open up the country again from the beginning of may. julia: let's turn to an update from our business desk. catherine bennett spoke about the european commission formally charging apple with breaking antitrust laws. catherine: antitrust laws are designed to promote fair competition between businesses. to make sure one does not end up monopolizing a particular sector or industry. if cartels are formed, that their choice.trips consumers of we see u.s. tech giants running into quite a few antitrust problems in europe, partly because of the way competition rules are regulated firmly

between the two systems in the u.s. and eu the eu is currently focusing on cracking down on those big tech giants, google, facebook, amazon and apple. they are also cracking down on additional taxation. julia: what has apple done wrong exactly? catherine: the case happening here is that the euas accused ape of giving apple music, it's music streaming service, and unfair advantage over rival this is a complaint from spotify from two years ago, so this has been quite a while in the making. we boils down to the fact that apple charges quite a high commission fee for purchases made on its app store. if you buy an app, the developer of that app has to pay up to 30% commission on any earnings from that purchase. the problem is they cannot get around it.

e app store is the only way they have of accessing consumers andustomers of apple products, so people who have that ios system. this poses a problem for those app developers because people with iphones or ipads represent one third of the eu market. that's right developers call it the apple tax. the second problem is apple has made these rules within its app stores where you cannot advertise cheaper options available elsewhere. that is where the case mainly lies and we can listen to the eu's competition chief to hear more about it. >> apple not only sets the rules for the app store, it also competes with its own app against many app providers. we are concerned apple's use negatively impact its rivals by

raising its costs, reducing its profit margins, as well as their attractiveness on the apple platform. julia: what does that actually mean for apple? catherine: it hits apple where it hurts. it's services revenue, that includes any fees it got through the app store is it second biggest source of income for the company. that's going to make a big difference to their finances. the next step after these charges have been laid down his apple will respond to these charges. perhaps they canind a settlement with theu and if not, they could risk a hefty fine, up to 10% of their global turnover. and of course, they will receive in order to change the way their app store operates. it is certainly not the last time we will see it come up, because there are, as we speak, to antitrust investigations

ongoing into apple as we speak. julia: that is it from us. more news coming up, stay tuned. >> taxes -- one of the two certain things in life along with death. when it comes to taxation, the french have a bad reputational. >> the stereotype is true -- the french do pay a lot of tax when you compare the amount of tax compared to the size of the economy, france almost always comes out on top. >> what are the main taxes individuals pay in france and how do they feel about the heavy tax burden? >> join us as we comb through the confusing issue of french taxes.

>> taxation might not seem like the sexiest topic for a show but it is key to understanding life in france and social tensions that arise like the recent protests that kicked off in 2018. >> the french system of taxation is particularly complicated. by some counts, there are over 200 different taxes. >> to keep things simple, we are going to focus on individual taxation like income tax, social charges, wealth tax -- the list is a long one. >> french people have traditionally had a fraught relationship with the taxman because they pay a lot of taxes. >> year after year, france ranks among the countries with the highest tax rates in the world. they make up 45% of gdp, about 10 points higher than other industrialized nations. >> what are we talking about

when you talk about individual taxation? here is a conference of breakdown. >> france's tax system can be tricky to navigate. there are three main types of personal taxes. the first that tends to come to mind is income tax. france, there are five income tax brackets. the more you earn, the more you pay. less than half of french households pay income tax meaning it only genates about one ter of a tax revenue. a maj way tovernmen rakes and money is through social contributions. these mandatory contributions are directly taken off your wages in proportion to what you earn and go to funding france's generation social security and welfare system -- things like unemployment and health care. then there are the many taxes people pay regardless of their income. indirect taxes is the value-added tax -- vat.

it was first introduced in the 1950's and is fixed at 20% for the majority of goods and services. unlike in the u.s., it's included in the price which means there are no bad surprises at the cash register. if you are not a residence of the eu, you may be able to apply for a vat refund, which is about as good as tax news gets in france. >> many of you sending your questions about french taxes, particularly in regard to foreigners or dual citizens who at times have to pay twice. david wilder wanted to know about the intricacies of filing as a dual u.s. french national. >> the tech systems are very different. in the united states, taxes are based on citizenship. in france, it is a domestic issue. anyone who has their tax revenue in france is subject to it, regardless of their nationality. they end up sitting up residency

in the neighboring tax havens, belgium and luxembourg. >> if you pay less tax in france if you have a lot of kids? >> you do. even if you have one, you end up paying less then a couple with no children. that's because in france, taxes are declared by household, not individual. the more dependent people you have, the less tax you pay. a fun fact is children and remain part of it until the age of 25. so long as they are studying. >> how do the french feel about paying taxes? are they ok if it's a good exchange for public services? >> polls suggest the majority of french people think it's normal, though their tolerance is wearing thin.

so i thought i would go ask for myself. >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] >> [speaking french]

>> [speaking french] >> [speaking french] >> for some people, there is a feeling of fiscal inequality in france. that's due to loopholes and tax exemptions. taking advantage of them has become a national pastime. >> they are literally called tax cubbyholes and buy some counts, there are over 450 of them. >> journalists get a huge tax break, though the jury is out and whether we deserve it. >> it's hard to see and understand who pays what and some people feel like they are

getting the short end of the stick. >> many people are asking for certain taxes to be scrapped but others are asking for one symbolic text to come back and that's the wealth tax. >> this is the iff -- a hot button and by sieve issue. when he was elected, president macron decided to eliminate it. >> he wanted to scrap the wealth tax to keep rich people based in frce and boost economic investment. but there is no indication whether or not that works. >> to find out more about france's tax system, our guest joins us, an american certified book accountant working in france for over 20 years you have a unique, foreigners perspective. france gets a bad rap when it comes to taxation.

is this system that much more complicated here? >> it's not more complicated for most everybody. the french income tax system, if you are talking about and -- a normal employee, its light years ahead of the u.s. tax syste i's very modern. the french website is easy to access and you can see what is going on with your tax -- for your taxes. for 90% of people, it's super simple. if you are business, freelancer or if you own a company, it gets a lot more complicated. if you are a freelancer in france, you have to file one for the income taxes, one for reporting to income subject to social taxes, so you have three filings going on. >> do you think compared to

other countries they pay too much tax? >> for income taxes, absolutely not. france is very competitive. the way the society is organized, it's a different social pact which -- you are on your own for social issues, you have to plafor your own retirement, whereas in france, the government is here for you and that comes with the cost. so the government's percentage take-home from a french paycheck is much more higher because they are providing more protections. >> recent debates have focused on the wealth tax. why is it so controversial? >> it's only controversial for the people who are paying it. i characterize it as being a real estate tax. it's not any more expensive in france than it is in texas.

the texas real estate taxes about 1.7% and in france, you pay about 1.5% at the most. the people subject to wealth tax are already not here. they are going to keep not coming here. the real issue in france is not the wealth tax, it's the succession tax. that is what is keeping rich people out of this country come out the wealth tax. most people that accumulate wealth over there lifetime or inherit from their parents do not want to part with 40% to 60% to the government just for living in france. they would prefer to leave this world as a u.s. president where 10 billion euros of wealth is not subject to any level of state tax. >> in all your experience working here as a foreigner, do you see anywhere where the

french system needs improvement? >> cancel the succession tax. that's a cultural thing -- maybe they don't want the forced to come to france? i would be interested to see the economic study that says succession taxes make this economy stronger. i don't believe it. >> thank you so much for being with us and walking us through the intricacies of the french tax system. >> is france's tax system a fair one? to answer, it's important to her member why we pay taxes in the first place. >> well three distribution is an important part of the philosophy , and some argue it works because if you look at the wealth gap between the richest and poorest before and after taxation, inequality is cut in half. >> chipping in for the greater good -- the idea for your mate to fund public services,

everything from fast trains to first-rate hospitals, good diversities and france's general -- generous social security system. >> but some say the quality is going down, so it is unclear what they're are paying for. for some, the tax burden has become a source of resentment. >> it is a tricky situation. people want to pay less tax but they want great public services. to be the first step is to make this system slightly more transparent and less complicated. >> that's all the time we have for today's show, but these tweet your questions to us and reach out on social media. >> we will see you soon for the next edition of french connection plus.

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04/30/21 04/30/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> 30's maintain a two-tier system. the means used by israeli authorities and the occupied territories amount to systatic oppression needed to establish the crime of apartheid. amy: "a threshold crosd." a damning new report by human rights watch sfo