Many of France’s most wealthy residents may consider leaving the country over concern about political instability and the prospect of higher taxes in light of the recent parliamentary election, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing wealth managers. The recent vote left no party with an absolute majority, resulting in a hung parliament, but a left-wing alliance took the most seats. Several wealth advisers said many of their panicking clients had already begun transferring capital abroad and started to look into possible expatriation.
Most are worried that, while neither the far-right nor far-left won the election outright, some of the parties’ campaign proposals, such as higher taxes, could soon become law. “We have new clients like top executives who are asking what they can do to shield themselves. Following Brexit there was an influx of bankers into France, but these high-earners will leave because they won’t want to pay more taxes,” Xenia Legendre, a Paris-based managing partner at Hogan Lovells law firm, told the news outlet.
The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP), which won the most seats in the election, promised to tax the super profits of companies and reinstate a wealth tax on the rich. Such legislation would run counter to the policies put in place by President Emmanuel Macron, which are considered more friendly to the wealthy and even earned him the nickname “president of the rich.” “People who can leave will leave if extreme policies are adopted.
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