Thee French government will study all options as it seeks to revive a controversial supertax on the wealthy after a proposed 75 percent levy on millionaires was shot down, the Finance Ministry said on Friday, reports Reuters.
France's top administrative court has concluded that any maximum marginal tax rate above 66 percent was likely to be rejected again by the Constitutional Council, the ministry said.
In an embarrassing blow to President Francois Hollande, the Constitutional Council ruled at the end of December that the original proposal for a 75 percent tax on personal annual earnings over 1 million euros (853.5 thousand pounds) was unfair.
"Determined to act in justice and implement the president's commitments, the government is studying all technical options," the ministry said in a statement.
The original millionaire tax, which was due to be in place for two years, was central to Hollande's campaign last year to keep former conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy from getting re-elected.
Though the tax was expected to bring in only a few hundred million euros per year, Hollande's government has insisted that the wealthy should bear a bigger burden for restoring the country's strained public finances.
Critics have decried the tax as likely to discourage investors and drive the most talented taxpayers abroad.
Read more of this report from Reuters.