We have already expressed our disgust at the lynching of Eric Woerth in these columns. Day after day, this affair appears to confuse or juxtapose issues that have nothing to do with each other. But overall, this confusion has turned into a real atmosphere of slander, and it is about time that the squalid revelations that do no credit to the media or to certain politicians who have made rather hasty statements, should finally cease.

This is particularly overdue because while the main victim of these revelations concerning a private matter between a mother and her daughter is Eric Woerth, there will still be substantial collateral damage from this affair. Do people believe the name of Robert Peugeot, who is the chairman of the holding company of PSA-Peugeot-Citroën can be brought up without having consequences? Do people believe that this discreet family, that has maintained nearly half of car production in France against all the odds, and that despite the temptation of having Switzerland just across the border, has decided to pay its taxes in France, will not eventually draw conclusions from the opprobrium that has been cast upon it?

Do people believe that Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers will not have the same temptation once she becomes the fully-fledged leading shareholder of L'Oréal? And what about families that still own substantial shares of the capital of major French companies.

Previously they had a choice between taxes or exile. Now, even if they agree to stay in France, these dynasties will have a choice between taxes, the shame of being rich and exile.

In the United States a Bill Gates is a model for all Americans. People bid millions of dollars on the internet to have dinner with Warren Buffett. As for the founders of Google or that of Facebook, they are more idolised by students across the Atlantic than footballers are on this side of it. Nobody would have the strange notion of suspecting these billionaires, whether they are young or old, of tax evasion, just because they are rich.

That is why, even if the Woerth affair blows over, a more poisonous atmosphere will still remain in France for the "new 200 families", an atmosphere combining populism, denouncement and slander. France has already managed to drive its best financial and industrial assets abroad due to its destructive tax system, and will thus shoot itself in the other foot. This will prevent it from ever leading the field in the economic marathon that globalisation has become.