French lawmakers were due on Saturday to vote on a wealth tax, after a swing group threatened to topple the government if the levy was not added in next year's austerity budget.

France is under pressure to pass a spending bill by an end-of-year deadline to rein in its deficit and soaring debt, but efforts have been hampered by a political crisis.

The country's third prime minister in a little over a year, Sebastien Lecornu has promised to get the job done, after the legislature ousted his two predecessors over cost-cutting measures.

Lecornu survived a confidence vote earlier this month by agreeing to suspend a deeply unpopular pensions reform under pressure from the left-wing Socialists.

But the Socialists, a swing group in parliament, have also demanded a tax on the uber-wealthy, with

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