French Senate rejects tighter tax on ultra rich

PARIS: France´s Senate on Thursday rejected a draft law to make the ultra-rich pay at least a two-percent tax on their fortune, as the government seeks to cut an alarming deficit.

By suggesting the threshold, the bill´s backers sought to put limits on any fiscal optimisation or avoidance strategies the wealthy employ to minimise their tax bill. The “Zucman tax” is named after French economist and director of the EU Tax Observatory Gabriel Zucman.

The tax, he said, could raise around 20 billion euros ($27 billion) per year by targeting 1,800 households. “This measure is extremely targeted at extremely rich people, and especially at those, among those extremely rich people, who pay very little tax today,” he said.