Coup de th??tre to the Constitutional Council. Tuesday night is no less a pillar of the 2010 budget that the Sages retoque in deciding to cancel the carbon tax in its entirety. In their decision, the constitutional judges – seized last week by the Parliamentary Socialists – have ruled that the law created too many exemptions, which is "contrary to the objective of fighting against global warming" and creates an inequality in tax."Less than half the emissions of greenhouse gas emissions would have been subject to contributions to carbon, because many of these exemptions, they argued.
In detail, the Constitutional Council has stressed that "were totally exempt contribution of carbon emissions from power plants generating electricity, emissions from industrial sites in 1018 the most polluting (refineries, cement, coke …) "emissions from aviation" or "those of the public transport of passengers by road. "These exemptions have led to only 93% of emissions from industrial sources, excluding fuel, are exempt from carbon contribution," according to the text.The tax would have "focused on fuel and heating products that are only one source of emission of carbon dioxide.
An alternative is proposed by Fillon January 20
Shortly after the publication of the decision of the Elders, Matignon has announced that Francois Fillon presented January 20 in Council of Ministers a new scheme taking "full account of the observations of the Constitutional Council. The prime minister maintains, however, that this contribution is needed to guide the behavior of firms and households in terms of energy consumption and reduce emissions of greenhouse gas emissions. "The cabinet of Jean-Louis Borloo for its part indicated that the Minister of Ecology and Sustainable Development Wednesday react to this defeat.
For its part, the Socialist Party – through its National Secretary for the Environment, Laurence Rossignol – did not expect to qualify the decision of the constitutional judges of "heavy defeat for the president. It is both the sanction of a working method that is to do everything in a hurry and a series of announcement effects. For the federation France Nature Environment (FNE), a cancellation is "catastrophic." "The carbon tax is clearly in agony.Copenhagen has shown that political will was not enough in the fight against climate change and today is the leverage that tax is lowered, "lamented spokesman FNE, Arnaud Gosse.
A measure dear to the Head of State
Wanted by Nicolas Sarkozy, the tax, renamed "carbon contribution" by the Senate, was a key measure of the proposed 2010 budget. In total, it would have resulted in 4.1 billion euros in tax revenue next year, including 2.2 billion paid by households. The Head of State himself had described as a "revolutionary tax" and a "major shift" to "lasting change" behavior of the French. The tax was aimed at encouraging individuals to reduce their CO2 emissions by applying the energy consumption of households and businesses, with compensation to individuals.For businesses, the carbon tax would replace the business tax, which was abandoned, however, been validated by the Constitutional Council.
According to calculations by INSEE, the entry into force – scheduled for 1 January – would be to effect a general price increase of 0.3% in first quarter 2010, an increase of about 4 cents per liter gasoline pump. Set at 17 euros per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2), but she had raised important challenges left, but right where some denounced the introduction of a new tax.
ALSO READ "SPECIAL – The carbon tax" Two thirds of the French reject the carbon tax