France’s socialist party are trying to use the current crisis in French politics to push through a wealth tax. The country’s political leadership is currently weakened after the resignation and quick reappointment of prime minister Sébastien Lecornu.

Other French parties had pushed for a no-confidence vote to topple Lecornu. This included the far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen. The Guardian reports Lecornu may now survive because the socialists stepped back from joining the attack.

However, socialist leader Olivier Faure wants a levy on the super-rich:

In the forthcoming debate, we on the left will be working together to defend the Zucman tax and public services and to protect the poorest.

He added “we’ll have other proposals on a whole range of ways of targeting large fortunes, high wealth and big companies”.

Socialists in France propose Zucman tax

The Zucman tax is named after economist Gabriel Zucman who suggested a 2% tax on the richest 1800 household. Proponents say it would raise 20 billion Euros.

Reuters describes the proposal as “a 2% levy on wealth above 100 million euros, affecting about 0.01% of taxpayers”.

The ongoing crisis hinges on a national budget which some say must be cut sharply. Typically, pensions were being eyed up for the chop, but Lecornu backed down.

The Guardian said:

The budget, which aims to reduce the deficit to 4.7% of GDP from this year’s 5.4%, hinges on a squeeze of more than €30bn, including cuts to corporate tax breaks, tighter rules on social welfare contributions, and new taxes.

Working class power

All in all, it seems like some of France’s poorest have escaped a class war attack. Clearly, this is much to the annoyance of the super-rich and France’s poor-bashing far-right.

As the Canary reported on 3 October, impetus for a wealth tax was built from below through trade unions:

…in protest against austerity measures. They’re pressing newcomer PM Sébastien Lecornu to consider a wealth tax on the super-rich, rather than cutting the budget for citizens already struggling with years of economic turmoil.

All things considered, the plan is an important step toward wealth redistribution for both the working classes of France, as well as socialists in other nations.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

From Canary via this RSS feed