ROME, Sept 2, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Italy's foreign minister on Monday pushed back against allegations from French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou that his country's unfair tax rules could attract France's wealthy.

"I was floored by Bayrou's comments, which are obviously the result of a mistaken analysis," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told journalists.

Bayrou made the assertion in a television interview, where he positioned himself against a flat tax for the wealthy proposed by left-wing parties.

He warned it would spur an exodus of wealthy French people to other jurisdictions, notably Italy, which he accused of practising "fiscal dumping".

Bayrou is struggling to stay in office after failing to win the French parliament over to adopt budget measures he says are necessary to reverse France's large public deficit.

On September 8, he faces a confidence vote he called, and if as appears likely, he loses the vote, he and his government will be forced to step down.

The measures he proposes involve a freeze on spending increases, and reducing the number of public holidays the French enjoy.

Italy, which has its own deficit struggles, has a flat-tax system for super wealthy residents, under which they pay an annual 200,000 euros ($230,000), regardless of the actual amount of their worldwide income.

France, in contrast, has a sliding tax scale, with additional brackets for tax residents whose property or properties are worth over 1.3 million euros.