France to recant on increased taxes

[Dave Grubb]

From the NYT:

PARIS — In a major concession by President Emmanuel Macron, France will suspend for six months a tax increase on gasoline and diesel fuel that had been slated for January, in an attempt to quell weeks of protests and rioting by the so-called Yellow Vests movement.

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe announced the move on Tuesday after briefing lawmakers in a closed-door meeting in Parliament.

“No tax warrants putting the unity of the nation in danger,” Mr. Philippe said.

For the past three weeks, the Yellow Vests protest movement has swept across France, clashing with the police and wreaking havoc in Paris and other major cities, defacing famed monuments such as the Arc de Triomphe.

The projected gas tax increase was equivalent to only a few cents a gallon, but it proved to be a tipping point in a country that already has some of the highest taxes in Europe, sending tens of thousands of protesters into the streets. Many came from small villages and towns where living standards are declining in an era of stagnant salaries.
It was not immediately clear whether the government’s announcement, which also delayed new vehicle inspection measures and increases in gas and electricity rates, would be enough to calm the demonstrations. Initial reaction from spokesmen for Yellow Vest protesters was negative.

“We’re not satisfied because the French have been struggling for years now,” Benjamin Cauchy, one of the spokesmen, said on BFM TV, a television news channel. “This could have been done weeks ago, and we would have avoided all these problems. Our demands are much bigger than this moratorium. They’ve got to stop hitting the wallets of the small earners. We want a better distribution of wealth, salary increases. It’s about the whole baguette, not just the crumbs.”

Lionel Cucchi, a spokesman in Marseille, told BFM TV that protesters were prepared to continue.

“There’s no guarantee it won’t be back in six months,” he said of the gas tax. “There will be more demonstrations. We remain mobilized.”

Mr. Macron had made it a hallmark of his government not to give in to the kind of street protests that often forced his predecessors to back down. But this time he apparently had no choice.

[Mike]

A six month postponement? Who does he think that will fool?

[Dave Grubb]

A six month postponement? Who does he think that will fool?

.......but....they get cake with it

[Truckman]

A six month postponement? Who does he think that will fool?

They're French...I'm sure they'll surrender to the idea after they think about it......Ben

[Dave Grubb]

This from an OPED in this morning's WSJ:

France’s violent Yellow Vest protests are now about many domestic concerns, but it’s no accident that the trigger was a fuel-tax hike. Nothing reveals the disconnect between ordinary voters and an aloof political class more than carbon taxation.

The fault line runs between anti-carbon policies and economic growth, and France is a test for the political future of emissions restrictions. France already is a relatively low-carbon economy, with per-capita emissions half Germany’s as of 2014. French governments have nonetheless pursued an “ecological transition” to further squeeze carbon emissions from every corner of the French economy. The results are visible in the Paris streets.

President Emmanuel Macron and his Socialist predecessor François Hollande targeted auto emissions because they account for about 40% of France’s carbon emissions from fuel combustion compared to 21% in Germany. But this is mainly because France relies heavily on nuclear power for electricity. Power generation and heating account for only 13% of French emissions, compared to 44% across the Rhine. French road-transport emissions were a mere 0.4% of global carbon emissions in 2016, when overall French emissions were less than 1%.

Yet Paris insists on cutting more, though transport emissions are notoriously hard to reduce. Cleaner engines or affordable hybrids have been slow to emerge. Undeterred, Mr. Macron pushed ahead with a series of punitive tax hikes to discourage driving.

The protesters in Paris will be expected to pay much of the up to €8 billion annual tab for a minuscule global benefit—that’s how much tax revenue Mr. Macron thinks his levies will raise. This is preposterous in an economy that still has an 8.9% jobless rate (21.5% for the young) and will struggle to hit 2% annual GDP growth. Yellow Vests from less prosperous rural areas, who depend on cars for daily life, know it. They’re insulted when Mr. Macron tells them to wait for better public transport or to carpool—yes, he really said that. They also assume that Paris will waste a fuel-tax windfall on boondoggles such as unreliable renewable power to replace zero-emissions nuclear plants.

The carbon tax revolt is world-wide. Voters in Washington state last month rejected a carbon tax that would have started at $15 per ton of emissions and climbed $2 a year indefinitely. Washington ranks 25th among American states in carbon emissions and when we tried to estimate its contribution to global emissions our calculator couldn’t handle a number that small. Gov. Jay Inslee and green activists nonetheless wanted voters to pay $2.3 billion in taxes over five years.

More holes in Joe's theory regarding the media.

[Truckman]

Think how upset the French might get if Macron decided to raise the taxes on wine, fishnet stockings and white flags......Ben

[Dave Grubb]

Think how upset the French might get if Macron decided to raise the taxes on wine, fishnet stockings and white flags......Ben

Now that right there is just mean---I don't care who you are

[Mike]

I think white flags are protected by their constitution as a basic human right.

[TxMusky]

Think how upset the French might get if Macron decided to raise the taxes on wine, fishnet stockings and white flags......Ben

Thats how you could make some real money.

[mgrist]

If the people anywhere could trust the government to use the money in the right way it probably wouldn't be so bad. But there just like here we've seen what happens to our gas tax for the roads and our S.S. taxes. Every year it seems we have a referendum that will add just a penny tax on the dollar to fix something. It's voted in but nothing in twenty years has been fixed, our sales taxes are?? .10 cent on the dollar now soon to be more and nothing will get fixed. The hell with them, I started out against destroying things to protest a tax but apparently that's the only way to get their attention.

[TxMusky]

What do you think those clowns would do with these "global warming" taxes? Right, they would use that money to keep buying votes. I say we do not give them anymore money until they can use the money they already get to fix these problems they said they would fix. No fix, no money.

[mgrist]

What do you think those clowns would do with these "global warming" taxes? Right, they would use that money to keep buying votes. I say we do not give them anymore money until they can use the money they already get to fix these problems they said they would fix. No fix, no money.

I'm with ya! I just googled "How much tax does the government collect each year" 7,000,000,000,000.00
Seven Trillion dollars!!!!! and we're 16 trillion in debt. Assuming that is correct that is aprox. 21,875.00 collected for every man woman and child in the US. based on a population of 320 million, the rich are definitely paying a bunch!


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