The carbon tax, largely forgotten by the French presidential campaign
The expression "carbon tax" has become taboo in French political debate JOHN MACDOUGALL / AFP
Text by: Anthony Lattier Follow
2 mins
Despite the mobilizations of environmental activists, the measure has been erased from the program of candidates for the presidential election next April.
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The marches for the climate are resuming in France, with a demonstration this Saturday in several cities, while the candidates for the presidential election of April 10 and 24 unveil their program one by one, in particular on ecology.
In terms of green taxation, Macron's five-year term will have claimed a victim: the carbon tax, a tax on petrol and gas which aims to encourage consumers to turn away from fossil fuels.
The Yellow Vests have been there.
The planned increase in the carbon tax – perceived as unfair, because it weighs first on the most modest – was the trigger for an unprecedented protest movement in France.
Since then, she has been a foil.
Based on the "polluter-pays" principle, this so-called "
climate energy contribution
" tax still exists, but no candidate is thinking of increasing it, as was planned when it was introduced in 2014 under the presidency of Francois Hollande.
► To read also: Presidential in France: the place of ecology in the programs of the candidates
It has become even less defensible following the
spike in gasoline and gas prices
due to the war in Ukraine.
The “
price signal
” that the carbon tax is supposed to send to consumers so that they use alternatives to fossil fuels “
is already extremely high
”, notes the deputy La République en Marche, Jean-Charles Colas-Roy.
Even the Greens and their candidate Yannick Jadot no longer want it.
“
Given the rise in energy prices, I do not wish today to relaunch an upward trajectory of carbon taxation.
The priority must go to public policies that decarbonise
”,
explained the MEP to the daily
Les Échos
, on February 9.
Environmentalists no longer dare to defend, as they did before the Yellow Vests, an overhaul of the carbon tax by offsetting this tax for the poorest and allocating the money collected to ecological transition.
Instead, Yannick Jadot, like Jean-Luc Mélenchon or Anne Hidalgo, prefer to support, in different versions, a “
climate ISF [solidarity tax on wealth]
”, namely a taxation of heritage and investment financing of the most rich, that is to say those who contribute the most to global warming.
The expression “
carbon tax
” has become a taboo in French political debate, unless this tax is European.
A proposal
is currently being discussed in Brussels and supported by several candidates including Emmanuel Macron.
But the principle is not the same: it is about taxing the most polluting imported products to fight against unfair competition.
Twelve candidates are in the running for the 2022 French presidential election. © FMM graphic studio
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