Gabriel Zucman, an economist, recently criticized the French government's proposed 2027 budget on the social media platform X. He argued that the government is willing to take various measures before even considering asking wealthy individuals like Bernard Arnault, the head of LVMH, or other French billionaires for more financial contributions. Zucman pointed out that the budget disproportionately affects retirees, reducing their income by 5 billion euros. This amount, he noted, is the same as the wealth tax that was abolished by former President Emmanuel Macron in 2017. That tax was replaced by the wealth tax on real estate (IFI), which generated 2.3 billion euros in 2025, according to the French Ministry of Finance (Bercy). Zucman criticized the government for giving preferential treatment to large fortunes and big companies, emphasizing that the main issue is public revenue rather than public spending. He expressed disappointment that the government has chosen to target retirees instead of ensuring that billionaires pay their fair share. He described the government's approach as defending the fiscal advantages of ultra-rich individuals, pointing to policies such as the taxation of sick leave, the "sugar" tax, and the reduction of the school allowance as examples of measures that fail to bring the ultra-rich into the realm of national solidarity. Zucman highlighted that despite the significant increase in billionaires' wealth, they are not contributing to the same extent as other social groups. He argued that there is little justification for taxing anyone else before ensuring that billionaires do not pay less in taxes than the middle class and that large companies do not pay less than small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). He praised his eponymous tax, a 2% floor tax targeting 1,800 tax households with more than 100 million euros in assets. He claims this tax would generate 20 billion euros in revenue. Zucman also posed rhetorical questions about the government's tolerance for companies like TotalÉnergies, which pay almost no corporate tax in France, and multinational corporations that are expected to pay even less in 2027 than in 2026, according to the budget forecast.