[ironicsonic]

Most likely taxes on wage for the main developer salary. The tax wedge in France is slightly under 50%, so that checks out.

[tonyedgecombe]

It's progressive and only gets to 45% once you reach €155K so that doesn't sound quite right.

[paduc]

I believe he's talking about social contributions (health, retirement, unemployment), that the employer pays, and not the taxes on revenue (paid by the employee).