Hollande profits from surprise tax ploy European social democrats mostly long ago gave up "soak the rich" polemics as counterproductive, but for France's François Hollande, his startling proposal this week to impose a 75 per cent marginal tax on incomes above €1m appears to have worked - at least for now. Two polls published yesterday showed that between 61 and 65 per cent of French people approved of the move, despite furious protests from President Nicolas Sarkozy, his centre-right UMP party and senior business figures that the tax would prompt an exodus of talent and investment from France. It was not the Socialist party candidate on the defensive at the end of the week, but the president, who was also forced to take refuge from protesters hurling eggs and insults when he visited Bayonne, in the French Basque country, on Thursday. "A hard campaign week for Mr Sarkozy," said the front page of Le Monde newspaper on Friday as it assessed the state of play in the run-up to the first round of the presidential election on April 22. Mr Hollande's surprise tax ploy, coupled with his repeated threats to crack down on what he calls "mad finance," sits at odds with his parallel attempt to portray himself as a moderate. On a visit this week to London, the centre of Europe's financial community - including thousands of French expatriates, he declared: "I am not dangerous." The UMP unearthed a video of Mr Hollande himself saying only a year ago that "confiscatory" tax rates would raise "no receipts" and would provoke investor relocation. He would, he said, rather see the rich "pay their taxes in France." His about-turn was condemned by Maurice Lévy, head of the Publicis advertising group, who last year led a group of France's wealthiest people in declaring their willingness to pay higher taxes to help the country out of its difficulties. That was still his position, Mr Levy told the Financial Times, but Mr Hollande's proposal went too far. When other taxes and social charges were added to the 75 per cent marginal rate, "you have a tax rate above 100 per cent." You are saying to all the talent - entrepreneurs, artists, writers - that whatever you do there is a ceiling: you can't earn more than €1m ... The real debate we should be having is the need for a profound reform of our public spending and how France can recover its competitiveness. Not only business objected. Frédéric Thiriez, head of LFP, the French professional football league, which already struggles to compete with the salaries paid to players in the UK, Spain and Italy, said the tax would be "the death of French football." Mr Sarkozy said the tax would hit Jean Dujardin, who on Sunday became the first Frenchman to win an Oscar for best actor for his role in The Artist. All this made no impression on Mr Hollande. His primary concern was to grab back the initiative in the presidential election after two weeks in which Mr Sarkozy had steadily eroded the Socialist candidate's lead in the polls after launching his official campaign. Mr Hollande seized on the issue after figures were published showing remuneration for executives in France's top listed companies grew 34 per cent last year. Jérôme Fourquet, of the pollster Ifop, said the move struck a chord. Historically and culturally [proposing high taxes on the rich] is more acceptable in France than other countries, but in this case the context is also very important. He added: "It helps [Mr Hollande] rally the left and it puts Mr Sarkozy in difficulty. He has portrayed himself as a candidate of the people, against the elite. But now he has been put in a position of defending the rich. Ifop's daily rolling poll showed Mr Sarkozy slipped back by a couple of points in the rankings for the first round of the election in the days following Mr Hollande's proposal, after previously coming within a point of his rival. Mr Sarkozy, a doughty campaigner, still has plenty of time to turn things around, but this was a week that did not go as planned.