It is never a great sign when politicians start appealing to taxpayers’ patriotism. Defending the French government’s recent decision to raise the top rate of income tax to 75 per cent, Pierre Moscovici, the country’s finance minister, told Le Monde: “This is not a punitive measure, but a patriotic measure.” The rich, he explained, are being given an opportunity to make “an exceptional contribution” to solving France’s financial problems. I am sure they are very grateful.
France is clearly taking a big risk by raising its tax rates so much higher than those of its neighbours. But it is a mistake to portray the Hollande administration as Socialist dinosaurs. The truth is that the new French government is at the extreme end of a new global trend: an international backlash against the wealthy that is reshaping politics from Europe to the US to China.
David Cameron, the British prime minister, has offered to roll out the red carpet for French tax exiles. But even in Britain, where the top tax rate is 45 per cent, there is a new mood of antagonism towards the rich. Even conservative politicians dare not defend bankers’ pay.