French execs echo Buffett offer to pay more taxes

[August 24, 2011]  PARIS (AP) -- Top executives from some of France's most successful companies including L'Oreal, Total and Danone are following the lead of billionaire investor Warren Buffett by offering to pay a one-off tax to help their government tackle its worsening debt load.

The 16 executives, also including the heads of car maker Peugeot-Citroen and Air France-KLM, said in an open letter that "at a time when the public deficits and the prospect of worsening government debt are threatening the future of France and Europe" they consider it "necessary to contribute."

The letter was published on the web site of French weekly magazine Nouvel Observateur on Wednesday, ahead of the government's presentation of a list of new deficit-cutting measures.

Liliane Bettencourt, the L'Oreal heiress and Europe's richest woman, also signed the letter. Bettencourt once took a euro30 million ($41.5 million) tax rebate thanks to an election campaign promise by President Nicolas Sarkozy to cap the taxes of the super-rich. He reversed that pledge in March.

The letter's authors -- Total CEO Christophe de Margerie, Peugeot-Citroen CEO Philippe Varin, ex-Renault CEO Louis Schweitzer and others -- say the "exceptional contribution" by France's richest taxpayers is their way of showing solidarity at a time when Sarkozy is demanding sacrifices from all French citizens.

No details were provided on how large the tax should be or how it should be assessed. But the description of it as an "exceptional contribution" suggests something different than the permanent higher rates that Buffett has called for in the U.S.

Last week Buffett reiterated his call for Congress to raise tax rates on U.S. households with taxable income of more than $1 million and impose an additional increase for those making $10 million or more.

The French government is expected to detail a raft of new fiscal measures on Wednesday for the country's 2012 election year budget, aimed at ensuring Sarkozy keeps his pledge to European partners and France's creditors to bring down the country's deficit.

The government is aiming for a deficit of 5.7 percent of national income this year -- down from 7.1 percent last year -- and 4.6 percent in 2012, but some analysts say those goals seem increasingly unrealistic after the country's economy stalled in the second quarter.

[Associated Press; By GREG KELLER]

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