France's rich keen to pay more tax as PM Fillon announces
'rigour package'  Sixteen wealthy French citizens have signed a
petition Liliane Bettencourt - 1970s Liliane Bettencourt, the
L’Oréal heiress, in 1975. Photograph: Roger-Viollet/Rex Features
Roger-Viollet / Rex Features/Roger-Viollet / Rex Features  As a
group of France's wealthiest citizens, including L'Oréal heiress
Liliane Bettencourt, take up the call for a tax on the rich,
François Fillon, the French prime minister, announced on
Wednesday a "rigour package" to cut the country's deficit and
save €11bn (£9.7bn).  The 16 business executives and wealthy
individuals signed a petition calling for an "exceptional
contribution" by the country's richest citizens as a measure to
help France drag itself out of the economic crisis that has hit
the eurozone countries.  The idea follows a similar suggestion
from the American billionaire Warren Buffett, which has been
picked up and supported by Maurice Lévy, the influential head of
the advertising and marketing