France’s richest man and LVMH boss denies tax exile bid

PARIS, France – Bernard Arnault, France’s richest man and LVMH boss, said Sunday, September 9, that he was not becoming a tax exile despite seeking Belgian nationality as Paris moves to impose a 75% wealth tax.

“I am and will remain a tax resident in France and in this regard I will like all French people fulfill my fiscal obligations,” the world’s 4th richest man told AFP.

“Our country must count on everyone to do their bit to face a deep economic crisis amid strict budgetary constraints,” he said, adding that the bid for dual nationality was “linked to personal reasons” and began some month ago.

Arnault’s application comes amid a debate on one of the main pledges that France’s President Francois Hollande, a Socialist, made during the election campaign earlier this year — to impose a 75% tax on incomes above one million euros.

The head of luxury goods giant LVMH, whose fortune is estimated to stand at $41 billion by Forbes magazine, was close to France’s former right-wing president Nicolas Sarkozy.

Following the election of previous Socialist president Francois Mitterrand in 1981, Arnault lived in the United States for 3 years, returning to France after the Socialists switched to a more conservative economic course. – Agence France-Presse