Majority Of French Oppose Carbon Tax Revision, Survey Reveals

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

22 January 2010

In light of the Constitutional Court’s decision to censure the initial carbon tax plans of the French government, the majority of individuals in France now believe that President Nicolas Sarkozy was wrong to insist on drafting a revised carbon tax bill, a recent opinion poll reveals.

According to the poll, 51% of those surveyed expressed their opinion that the government was wrong to propose a new bill, whereas only 39% deemed that the government was right not to renounce its carbon tax plans; 10% of those surveyed were undecided.

Recently presented to the Council of Ministers, the new carbon tax initiative includes most of the key measures contained in the original text, notably for individuals. It does, however, put forward the idea of initiating a “consultation” on polluting industries, in a bid to address the issues raised by the Constitutional Court.

The court censured the original text at the end of December last year, declaring that the proposals were unconstitutional given that the tax fails to respect the fundamental principle of equality.

Fiercely criticizing the government’s decision to grant heavy industry exemption from the new carbon contribution, the court argued that these industrial companies are not due to pay carbon dioxide emission quotas until 2013.

The government aims to present an amended bill to parliament in either April or May.

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