France unveils austerity budget

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PARIS, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- France unveiled a plan Friday that will raise taxes and cut public spending to reduce the country's budget deficit.

The austerity budget is designed to create $39 billion in savings that would reduce the country's budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product by the end of next year, Radio France Internationale reported.

French President Francois Hollande's office said one-third of the savings would come from cuts to public spending and the rest would come from taxes on companies and high-earning individuals, CNN reported.

"It's a combat budget to fight against a debt that only continues to increase and that rests on the shoulders of French taxpayers and generations to come," French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters Friday, CNN said.

Ayrault said the working and middle class families have been exempted from the revenue tax.

"Nine households out of 10 ... will not be taxed further, this is the guarantee that we are giving to the French people," he said.