France must fix its "many mistakes" on tax if it is to benefit from an exodus of business from London after Britain's vote to quit the European Union, the man tipped to be France's next president has said.
Alain Juppe, a centre-right former prime minister, reaffirmed pledges to scrap a wealth tax and cut corporate tax if elected in May, saying that was necessary to boost growth and attract more business from abroad.
"Brexit gives us opportunities," he said after a meeting at the Paris offices of financial markets operator Euronext. "Paris must win" the battle to attract London-based firms, he said.
"We must play our cards right ... and avoid making mistakes," said Mr Juppe, adding that he was "stupefied" by parliament's plans to increase a transactions tax on shares.
Last week, in a first reading of next year's budget bill, the lower house backed an increase in the tax to 0.3% from 0.2% and its extension to cover intra-day trading.
Mr Juppe and other opposition politicians have repeatedly said the government's post-Brexit plans to make Paris a stronger financial centre do not go far enough.
Measures to date include the extension of a tax relief regime for expatriates to eight years from five.
Mr Juppe, who polls tip to win both a centre-right primary in November and the presidential election next year, pledged they could offer foreign investors stable, predictable fiscal policy.
On post-Brexit relations with the EU, he said he hopes Britain will keep a relation of some sort with the single market but insisted that free movement of workers could not be separated from the EU's other key rights, including the unobstructed access to capital, services and goods markets.
