France leads the way on a carbon tax

Well, it looks like the French have exhibited a bit of common sense. But not much.

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- France’s constitutional court rejected a proposed tax on carbon emissions, saying a web of exemptions violated the principal of equality and rendered efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions ineffective.

The government said it will make new proposals on Jan. 20.

The tax, which would have started on Jan. 1, was set at 17 euros ($24.38) per ton of carbon-dioxide emissions, President Nicolas Sarkozy said in September. To make the tax more palatable, he partially or fully exempted power plants, public transport, airlines, farming and fishing, as well as 1,018 older cement, steel and glass factories.

In all, 93 percent of all industrial carbon emissions in France would have avoided paying the full tax, the constitutional court said in a decision published on its Web site. The tax would have fallen disproportionately on fuel for heating and cars, it said.

“The court ruled that the system of exemptions, due to their extensive nature, were contrary to the objective of fighting global warming and contravene the principle of equality before the tax system,” the court said.

The court rejected all the articles relating to the carbon tax in the government’s 2010 budget.

In a statement, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said a carbon tax remains a “priority for the President of the Republic and the government.” He said changes to satisfy the constitutional court will be presented at a cabinet meeting Jan. 20.

Let me help you get this in perspective.

A gallon of gasoline produces about 20 pounds of carbon dioxide. Now if you drive 20,000 miles a year, which many US drivers do, and if your car averages 20 miles per gallon, then you have used 1000 gallons of gasoline. That is 20,000 pounds or 10 tons of carbon dioxide. That's %243.80 using France's tax rate.

Now you can collect that in one of two ways. First by a mileage reading. The DOT notes your mileage when you register the first time, then when you register the second time, subtract and you have the mileage. Take the EPA's two estimated MGP numbers, average the two and divide the result into the miles driven to get the gallons used. Then do the math for the carbon dioxide produced and price out the tax.

Now that's too easy plus they'd have to wait sometime before the second event (trading, selling, etc.). Maximum one year. Bureaucrats and econo freaks won't like that so you can bet your sweet bippy that someone will come up with a national average and we'll get a fifty cent per gallon carbon tax.

Of course the poor will get a rebate as a reminder to vote Democrat.







On Twitter I am Lesabre1