French billionaire Bernard Arnault slams wealth tax

The CEO of luxury group LVMH, Bernard Arnault, said that a proposed 2% levy on France’s wealthiest citizens — those with assets worth more than €100 million — is “an offensive that is deadly for our economy”. The multi-billionaire made the comments to the Sunday Times.

Bernard Arnault, once the world’s richest person, has a fortune estimated to be worth $157.1bn (€133.5bn), according to Forbes.

The CEO reacted over the weekend to what is dubbed the ‘Zucman tax’, named after French economist Gabriel Zucman, who is advocating for higher levies on the rich. Zucman, who is a professor of economics at the Paris School of Economics as well as at Berkeley, California, released a study last year about the impact of a minimum tax on the world’s super-wealthy.

The debate resurfaced again as France’s new Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, took office last week. He is tasked with lowering France’s budget deficit and debt, the very fight that led to the toppling of the previous government.

France’s finances are fragile, with its deficit amounting to 5.8% of GDP, the highest total in the eurozone, and debt reaching 113% by the end of 2024.

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François Bayrou and his government were voted out by the National Assembly on 8 September after they tried to gain approval for €44bn in budgetary cuts.

Left-wing politicians of the Socialist Party and the Green Party are urging Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to include a wealth duty in his 2026 budget proposal.

The Zucman tax, which would apply to 1,800 households, could raise around €20bn a year for the government. However, if the ultra-rich leave the country as some fear, these revenues could diminish. In 2012, Arnault himself previously threatened to ask for Belgian citizenship after another tax dispute, although he did not follow through with the plans.

Arnault did not say anything about leaving his home country this time, but he called Zucman a “far-left activist”, adding: “This is clearly not a technical or economic debate, but rather a clearly stated desire to destroy the French economy.”

Zucman reacted in a recent X post to the words of Arnault, saying: “Billionaires pay little or no income tax, and 86% of French people are right to want to end this privilege.”

Another French economist, Thomas Piketty, branded Arnault’s words as “nonsense”. He said in an X post on Sunday, “The 500+ richest people increased their wealth by 500% from 2010 to 2025. With a 2% annual tax, it would take a century to return to 2010 levels, assuming they receive no income in the interim.” He added the question, “Is this bringing the French economy to its knees?”

Arnault’s words have sparked a heated debate within France’s political sphere.

The leader of the Green Party reacted on X to Arnault’s claims, adding: “To be fair, he has a big conflict of interest when he speaks on the subject.”

“He does everything to pay the least amount of tax in France,” said the national secretary of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, to Franceinfo on Sunday. Roussel slammed political decisions taken since the election of President Emmanuel Macron in 2017, arguing that the French people have lost purchasing power due to increasing bills and stagnating income.

“Meanwhile, the rich, the very rich, have seen their fortunes double, triple,” he went on. “This Zucman tax allows for fiscal justice. It is the richest who must contribute to reducing the deficit,” he said.

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The leader of the right-wing National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, has refrained from taking a consistent stance on the Zucman tax.

The levy is popular with the public, meaning the party risks losing votes if it strongly opposes the measure. However, Le Pen is also aiming to attract the support of the business community, meaning that showing her support for the levy also holds consequences. So far, she has branded the tax “ineffective and dangerous”.