French Documentary 'Tax Me (If You Can)' Lands Public Broadcaster Deals Across Europe Ahead of Arte Premiere

A French documentary investigating how the ultra-rich grow their fortunes while tax-the-rich movements gain political traction has been sold to public broadcasters in four European countries, just days before its domestic launch.

Paris-based sales agent The Party Film Sales closed deals on Tax Me (If You Can) with RTVE in Spain, RTS in Switzerland, RTV in Slovenia and YLE in Finland, according to Variety. The sales were announced on the eve of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous TV confab — an annual market in Le Havre where French producers and distributors pitch new programmes to international buyers.

The documentary is a Little Big Story production, co-produced with ARTE France. It is shopped in two formats: a 52-minute feature or a two-part version of 45 minutes each, giving broadcasters flexibility on how they schedule it.

Directed by Thomas Lafarge, a 38-year-old investigative journalist and filmmaker, Tax Me (If You Can) examines how the ultra-rich have seen their wealth soar over the past two decades while "trickle-down" economics — the theory, popularised by U.S. economist Arthur Laffer, that tax cuts on the wealthy benefit everyone — gained momentum. The film also follows the counter-movement: a push to tax billionaires, led by French economist Gabriel Zucman and supported by millionaires including Abigail Disney, heir to the Disney fortune.

Lafarge's track record gives the film its investigative spine. He previously co-directed The World According to Amazon with Adrien Pinon and In the Murky Water of BNP Paribas with Xavier Harel. The idea for Tax Me (If You Can) was conceived by Olivier Lamour, with producer Valérie Montmartin.

The film draws on a striking detail: in January 2023, 200 millionaires from around the world signed a petition demanding to pay their fair share to society, according to The Party Film Sales. The documentary quotes Chuck Collins on the "man bites dog" news principle — the idea that the unusual story here is wealthy people asking to be taxed, not resisting it.

Zucman's team invited Lafarge to Washington for the G20, which became the starting point for an international campaign on taxing billionaires. That campaign is now part of public debate in France, the U.K., Sweden and the United States.

Estelle de Araujo, co-head of international sales at The Party Film Sales, commented on the deals, though the specific remarks were not detailed in the report.

The Party Film Sales is a Paris-based company whose slate includes the Oscar-nominated The Voice of Hind Rajab and the Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Congo Boy — credits that signal the company handles both documentary and feature work with festival pedigree.

For audiences in France, Tax Me (If You Can) premieres on Arte's streaming platform arte.tv on 8 September, followed by a broadcast on the ARTE channel on 14 September. The four new public-broadcaster deals mean viewers in Spain, Switzerland, Slovenia and Finland will get their own airings, though broadcast dates in those territories have not yet been set.