– The Socialist Counter-revolution Begins: France’s Richest Man Seeks Belgian Citizenship (ZeroHedge, Aug 8, 2012):
few months ago when the new French socialist president gave details of his particular version of the “fairness doctrine” and said he would tax millionaires at 75%, we said that “we are rotating our secular long thesis away from Belgian caterers and into tax offshoring advisors, now that nobody in the 1% will pay any taxes ever again.” While there was an element of hyperbole in the above statement, the implication was clear: France’s richest will actively seek tax havens which don’t seek to extract three quarters of their earnings, in the process depriving France (and other countries who adopt comparable surtaxes on the rich) of critical tax revenues. It took three months for this to be confirmed, and with a bang at that. The WSJ reports that Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, and the richest man in France, has decided to forego hollow Buffetian rhetoric that paying extra tax is one’s sworn duty, and has sought Belgian citizenship.
From the WSJ:
Bernard Arnault, France’s richest man and chairman and chief executive of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is seeking Belgian citizenship, a move that comes as President François Hollande prepares to press ahead with a controversial tax on the country’s wealthiest citizens.