Principality of Monaco

World Factbook as of November 2014: "Monaco, bordering France on the Mediterranean coast, is a popular resort, attracting tourists to its casino and pleasant climate. The principality also is a banking center and has successfully sought to diversify into services and small, high-value-added, nonpolluting industries. The state has no income tax and low business taxes and thrives as a tax haven both for individuals who have established residence and for foreign companies that have set up businesses and offices. Monaco, however, is not a tax-free shelter; it charges nearly 20% value-added tax, collects stamp duties, and companies face a 33% tax on profits unless they can show that three-quarters of profits are generated within the principality... The state retains monopolies in a number of sectors, including tobacco, the telephone network, and the postal service. Living standards are high, roughly comparable to those in prosperous French metropolitan areas."

Economic growth
2013: 0.9%
2010 2.5%

Estimated per capita GDP
2011: $85,000, in 2012 dolllars?, ranks 5th.

Government

Legislative branch: unicameral National Council or Conseil National (24 seats; 16 members elected by list majority system, 8 by proportional representation to serve five-year terms)

French legal tradition

Independence, 1419

SOURCES:
The World Factbook