Sarkozy's financial struggle prompts billionaires to offer more in tax

As the French government struggles to get a handle on its finances, 16 billionaires have signed a letter demanding to pay more tax. One of the signatories is the L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, who was involved in a tax-evasion scandal last year.

"Now, when the public deficit and the state's worsening debt situation are threatening the future of France and of Europe, when the government is asking everyone to make an effort of solidarity, we feel we must contribute," says the letter, which appears in Le Nouvel Observateur magazine. The letter echoes the US billionaire Warren Buffett, who earlier this month called on Congress to stop "coddling" the super-rich and impose higher taxes on them.

The French billionaires, who include the heads of Total, Danone, Peugeot-Citroë* and Société Générale, limited their request to a one-off levy and acknowledged the tax would not be a solution in itself to France's economic woes, but would play a part in a "more widespread effort of reform".

The level for the one-off tax is not specified in the letter, but even a contribution of several hundred million euros would not make much of a dent in France's public deficit, which stands at about €150bn (£132bn).

Source: Independent.co.uk