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France's richest man, Bernard Arnault, slams proposed wealth tax

Bernard Arnault, 76, boss of luxury goods firm LVMH, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at 156 billion dollars, has dismissed a wealth tax demanded by the French leftwing to soften the social blow of proposed budget cuts as a 'desire to destroy the French economy', while he attacked the economist behind the favoured model for the tax as being 'a far-left activist' with 'pseudo-academic expertise'.

La rédaction de Mediapart

21 September 2025 à 00h52

Bernard Arnault, one of the world’s wealthiest men, with a net worth of $156 billion (£116 billion), has weighed into a bitter debate raging in his native France over the proposed imposition of a 2 per cent tax on the country’s mega-rich — those with assets over €100 million (£87 million) — calling it “an offensive that is deadly for our economy”, reports The Sunday Times.

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