A war of words has escalated between Emmanuel Macron and François Hollande after the French president's predecessor warned that cutting back on the country's wealth tax risked favouring the rich "while they sleep" over the poor, reports The Telegraph.
Mr Hollande's outburst was clearly timed to inflict maximum damage on Mr Macron, who is fighting a rearguard action to counter rival claims that he is "president of the rich"; it coincided with Tuesday's parliamentary debate on watering down the deeply symbolic "tax on fortune", which previous French leaders have dared not touch.
In an interview on Sunday, Mr Macron, who wants to limit the tax to property, railed against "French jealousy that seeks to tax success", saying it was pointless "throwing stones at the lead mountaineers" as if they fall, then they will bring down "rest of the roped party with them".
In an implicit broadside at his erstwhile protege, Mr Hollande - who famously once declared "I don't like the rich" - slammed what he called his attempts to introduce a "lower tax regime for the rich and higher one for the more modest or middle classes".
At a keynote speech at the World Forum Knowledge in Seoul, South Korea, the ex-leader said: "Tax policy must favour investment not rent. I am not against success, but it must not be of those who get richer while they sleep.
"Those who work must see the fruits of their labour and I don't see why one should be generous to taxpayers who know how to invest their money very opportunistically."
Mr Hollande, who famously created a 75 per cent tax on millionaire earners before introducing more business-friendly measures, defended his own record, saying he had little choice but to raise taxes in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.