French Join Brits In Supertax On Bonuses

France is expected to follow Britain's lead and slap a one-off 50% tax on bank bonuses over 27,000 euros.

Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy are keen for other EU countries to follow suit

Chancellor Alistair Darling announced in the pre-Budget Report on Wednesday that the British Government would impose a one-off 50% tax rate on bonuses above £25,000.

The move is to recoup cash spent saving the financial sector during the crisis.

Sky News' city editor Mark Kleinman said:"The French government is planning to impose a one-off levy on banks operating in France and that will capture British banks like HSBC and Barclays which operate in France as well."

He added: "This is good news for Alistair Darling because it means he is not acting in complete isolation.

"But of course the city heavyweights who are threatening to quit Britain now over this supertax are not going threatening to go to Paris, they are threatening to go Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong - so it is mixed news for Britain."

President Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown made a joint appeal for world leaders to impose a tax on bank bonuses in a commentary published in The Wall Street Journal newspaper.

It is believed France had been considering the tax for a while but the country's government was worried about losing its financial competitiveness.