The leading French collector and luxury goods billionaire Bernard Arnault, who is also France’s richest man, says that he is seeking Belgian citizenship as President Hollande prepares to implement a 75% tax rate on income above €1m a year. Arnault says he will continue to pay taxes in France and hopes to hold dual French-Belgian nationality, while his Groupe Arnault holding company “has made multiple investments in Belgium and intends to develop them [there]”.
The company declined to comment on whether Arnault’s move would affect his plans to open a museum designed by Frank Gehry in the Bois de Boulogne district in west Paris. The €100m building, which will house the Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation in Paris, is scheduled to open by 2015 after numerous delays. Arnault is known to have acquired art by Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Serra, Maurizio Cattelan and Doug Aitken.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Would tax hike hit Arnault’s Paris museum?'
