The Constitutional Council of France, responsible for the constitutionality of the law, assesses that this new tax measure does not take into account the "principle of equality against public levies" because it "rests on the income of each natural person" while the income tax is taken "per household".
The Constitutional Council also rejected the modalities for calculating the wealth tax ceiling, especially the calculation of capitalized income or benefits, "which the taxpayer did not realize".
A special tax of 75 percent was supposed to be collected during the next two years on incomes exceeding one million euros per year per individual taxpayer. More symbolic than fiscally effective, that measure was supposed to cover approximately 1500 people who were supposed to pay, on average, about 140.000 euros on that basis, and the state budget was supposed to be fuller by about 300 million euros per year.
The main right-wing opposition party UMP addressed the highest French constitutional institution with a request for an evaluation of the constitutionality of the law.
The Constitutional Council's decision is a major blow to Socialist President Francois Hollande, who has made the 75 percent tax one of the central elements of his policy, asking the richest French to contribute more to reducing the budget deficit. His proposal shocked foreign investors and angered France's highest earners, prompting some of them, such as the famous actor Gerard Depardieu, to seek "tax exile" in Belgium and other countries.
Bonus video:
