‘Tax the Rich,’ French Protesters Cry, as the Wealthy Push Back on Paying More

As the French took to the streets on Thursday in another mass protest against a government austerity plan, one phrase was on everybody’s lips: Tax the rich.

With a budget crisis looming, lawmakers with the power to bring down President Emmanuel Macron’s third government in a year are demanding that the very wealthy pay more to help fix France’s finances — nearly eight years after Mr. Macron cut taxes on rich individuals and on companies to make the country more business friendly.

But the tax plan, which would place a new 2 percent levy on assets above 100 million euros (about $118 million), is roiling an already fragmented political landscape.

The tax plan, created by and named after the French economist Gabriel Zucman, has become a totem of France’s Socialist and left-leaning parties, which say it will plug France’s ballooning deficit and address inequality. Businesses and right-leaning parties are warning of an economic calamity.

“This would be a terrible obstacle to investment and risk-taking for businesses,” said Patrick Martin, the head of France’s largest employers’ network, Medef. France already has some of the highest taxes in Western countries, he added, and “introducing this tax would be a form of plunder.”

At a time when Europe is facing budget constraints and demands from President Trump for higher military spending, calls for raising taxes on the rich are growing louder. Spain made a so-called solidarity tax on people with large fortunes permanent this year. Germany is backing a tax on the world’s billionaires. Norway recently expanded wealth taxes to include unrealized stock gains.