French rich want taxes raised to help economy

SOME of France’s richest people, including the billionaire heiress of L’Oreal and the head of oil major Total, urged the government to tax them more to help solve the country’s financial problems.

In a petition published on the website of weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, company executives, business leaders and super-rich individuals called for the creation of a “special contribution” that would target wealth without forcing the rich to quit France for overseas tax havens.

The petition, whose signatories included L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and Total chief Christophe de Margerie, follows a call by US billionaire Warren Buffett for US authorities to raise taxes on himself and other ultra-high earners to contribute to austerity efforts.