Melenchon strikes fear in the hearts of many wealthy voters who remember the early eighties, when Mitterrand ran with Communist backing and promised to nationalize banks. He won the election on May 10, 1981. Soviet tanks never did make it to Paris, but some of France’s wealthiest fled. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE’s billionaire Chief Executive Officer Bernard Arnault moved to the U.S. as did Nathaniel de Rothschild. Some others moved to Switzerland.

Melenchon wants to limit executive pay to 20 times that of the lowest-paid employee, ban companies from paying dividends if they’ve laid off workers for economic reasons, impose capital controls to fight tax fraud and expand the base of those paying the existing wealth tax.

“We’ve invented the universal tax,” Melenchon said in a speech in Dijon on Tuesday. “It’s not worth fleeing. There will be tax agents even in hell.”

Melenchon considers anyone earning more than 4,000 euros ($4,287) a month as “rich,” and would expect them to do more to further his aims for France. He would slap a 90 percent tax on anyone who makes more than 400,000 euros a year. He plans to make inheritance tax-free below 130,000 euros per child, compared with 100,000 euros now, but tax it more for higher amounts.

“We want to make those who can afford it pay more,” Manuel Bompard, his campaign chief of staff and son-in-law, said on La Chaine Parlementaire television on April 12. “There should be a cap on the accumulation of wealth in this country.”

David Fuller's view

London remains a very popular destination for educated French entrepreneurs, or indeed similarly qualified people from other EU countries.  We welcome you because you contribute to the diversity, charm and character of this great city.