French left vows new taxes as snap election draws near [Video]

Left-wing parties in France on Friday pledged to raise 30 billion euros a year from taxing businesses and the rich if they win a majority at snap parliamentary polls, drawing ire from centrists and business leaders.

The promises to fund new welfare handouts come as the left tries to catch the far-right National Rally (RN) in the polls — both of them well ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s camp.

Socialists, Greens, Communists and hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) would aim to bring in 30 billion euros from a wealth tax and a levy on windfall profits if their New Popular Front (NPF) alliances took power.

They plan to spend the cash on reversing Macron’s hugely unpopular increase to the official retirement age as well as boosting housing and unemployment benefit payments and public sector salaries.

“There is a delicate balance between reducing inequality and maintaining strong economic growth,” Olivier Blanchard, former …