PARIS - President Nicolas Sarkozy said France will join the U.K. in introducing a levy on bonuses, saying they’d “show the way” on taxing the financial sector.

“We can only tax them if we tax them both sides of the Channel,” Sarkozy said in Brussels today. “We want and we wait for others to do the same, because we are in a globalized world.” In a later press conference, he said “the logic” of taxing bonuses is “unavoidable.” Sarkozy didn’t provide any details on the French plan.

France and Britain are the first nations since the outbreak of the financial crisis to target bonuses with a tax. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today she won’t seek a bonus tax in part because it might be unconstitutional. Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann said yesterday banks there will exercise self-restraint on pay.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said Dec. 9 all banks in the U.K. must pay a levy of 50 percent on discretionary bonuses of more than 25,000 pounds ($40,000) awarded between now and April. France will enact a tax next year on 2009 banker bonuses. The tax will apply to bonuses exceeding 27,000 euros ($40,000), two officials said yesterday.

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