Old Sarko is at it again. He’s proposing a ‘carbon tax’ to help France meet its global warming targets. He announced that his ‘fiscal revolution’ - a new levy on oil, gas and coal consumption by households and businesses – would come into effect next year and would encourage people to use less fuel.
Three quarters of the French population are against the new tax, according to one poll which shouldn’t surprise anyone – the French are against any change, anywhere, anytime! They are also suspicious that the new tax is a wheeze to plug a budget deficit that has ballooned due to the economic crisis. In typically bombastic and totally surreal fashion, Sarko likened the new measure to decolonization and the repeal of the death penalty, saying both of these ground-breaking reforms were unpopular at the time.
The levy will not apply to electricity, as with 80 per cent of electricity produced in France coming from low-emission nuclear plants, it would make no sense to increase the price of such "clean" power. Starting at 17 euros (£14.85) per ton of carbon dioxide, the tax will be introduced in the 2010 budget and is expected to raise 3 billion euros. It will push up the average household heating bill and raise the cost of a litre of unleaded fuel by about four cents per litre.
The tax will rise over time, Sarko said, without providing further details of by how much or when - although some estimate it could rise to 100 euros per ton by 2030.
OK – so here are my views:
If the ‘carbon tax’ is to raise €3bn in the 2010 budget that’s the equivalent of a 1.5p rise in UK income tax. Not good but not spectacularly bad either. At least Sarko is telling us what he’s trying to do – use less fuel and you’ll not be ‘punished’. Use more fuel and you’ll pay a tax, the proceeds of which will help the less well off and the more efficient users of fuel through the issue of 'green coupons', whatever they might be!
At this point I should mention that as our house is virtually all-electric (we use a small amount of gas), we are unlikely to be affected although if, as quoted, the price of petrol rises by 4 euro cents a litre, that could cost our household another €70 per year.
But, and here’s the big but – one sure fire way of reducing fuel consumption is to allow householders to install solar panels. I mean, we get 4 months of really hot weather, 4 months of warmish weather and 4 months of mild/cold weather so if solar panels are going to work anywhere, they’ll work here but, we’re not allowed to install them.
There’s a government sponsored scheme doing the rounds at the moment where a solar panel company will install the necessary panels for say €20,000, but they don’t charge you a thing. The government provides a 40% grant taking the cost down to €12,000. EDF, the national electricity supplier then contracts to buy your electricity off you at our house’s equivalent of €2,000 a year for 6 years and hey presto, after about 6 years you have virtually free, carbon free, hot water and in some cases, heating. The only thing is that local mayors have the power to allow the installation of these panels or not, and most of them refuse point blank. It’s crazy. The only people who would see our solar panels (given the nature of our roof and the position of the other houses) would be easyJet pilots and their passengers!
So why does the government offer these grants? It’s because the French, like most developed countries, have climate change targets to make, otherwise they end up with swinging great fines, so they offer incentives to householders like me to be more efficient, but then the local mayors, in their infinite wisdom (oxymoron - French mayors and wisdom) ignore all this stuff and say ‘non’.
It’s crazy – but then it’s France!
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