A France that cannot grow decent wage-paying jobs but that can grow trust and hedge funds for its wealthy, that is the France that will implode when the little peopel wearing yellow vests have had enough. I learned how to sneer from my early years spent on the streets of Paris, sneering at the people whose only claim to anything was a bank balance. Yet France resembles every other place in its worship of money and neglect of human abilities and talents. Let it continue on its classist course and see how enraged the frustrated many are when they consider the pampered few who benefit disproportionately from their sweated labor.
6
Takeaway- violence works in France
3
The true significance of this episode is that it shows what happens when measures aimed at promoting clean energy start to make an impact on people's standard of living. This is why we will never solve our climate change crisis.
10
But when our President wants to allow for coal burning plants, that gets the Democrats screaming.
When taxes on wealthy, and wealthy businesses, go up, they up and move away. I don't know what the upper limit of taxation is before the wealthy take to the streets, with their moving vans, but not everyone can get it all.
Are we really far behind France?
2
Does anyone feel that this ‘yellow vest’ movement is reminiscent to the 1968 French riots that propelled the anti-war movement?
Are we moving to another right/left confrontation?
2
Quite frankly, unless the Yellow Vests unequivocally and loudly state that they are also concerned about the end of the world, I won't care about the end of their month. I am sick and tired of petty excuses for increasing carbon emissions whole my climate changes. California burned this year and unless these protestors care about what their emissions are doing to my state, they can fly over a cliff as far as I am concerned. They're sending us over a cliff, so let them enjoy some of their own medicine. END CLIMATE CHANGE, fools!!!
5
It is quite sad to see the news. I think it is one of the concrete steps that Franch government takes to fight againts climate change but the result is not so optimistic.
1
I am surprised several folks commenting below have rightly pointed out this as a warning to tax and tax liberals - and some even gave this as a warning to California.
As a Republican - I endorse these comments.
And if I may go further - this is also a warning to Democrats who think many Americans are rethinking "America First" or for that matter the slogan "Make America Great Again."
I think this "nationalist" trend has not yet gone full cycle.
The world over - folks are beginning to ask what is in it for me?
As it has been said about America - America does well when Americans do well.
M Macron - whom I admire - is understanding that lack of peace on home front - is a disaster waiting on international fronts.
Or put it another way - charity begins at home.
9
This is only a suspension and he is not going to halt the tax. He is intent on pressing on because Macron believes he knows best how French citizens should live. Never mind that so-called green energy sources do not provide enough power to provide for people's energy needs and that Germany is finding this out the hard way in which Germans are now embracing coal.
This is what happens when a continent remains committed to collective responsibility and disregards individual rights. Obviously the French have forgotten the lesson of the tragedies of the Reign of Terror that an elite few are not better able to manage or govern people's lives.
15
The problem in France is the same as elsewhere - income inequality- despite a generous safety net. As usual, those who can take advantage of the system milk it as much as they can, whether in lifetime government pensions for not much work, choosing unemployment over work, voting to work 35 hrs for the same 40 hrs pay, or just not doing much work at all (learned all this from years working in Paris), while leaving the rest overburdened with work, taxes, too little pay, or unable to find work.
Then there’s the state’s attempt at finding jobs for or retraining the unemployed, which is thoroughly inept.(based on the experience of close friends, one a highly skilled computer engineer who’d find a job in a NY minute here)
I have been willing to give Macron the benefit of the doubt, due to the strong headwinds he faces, but he should have waited to see positive changes in terms of employment and wages before slapping a tax for the environment; moreover, the French already pay several *times*
what Americans do for gas (almost $7 a gallon). They are also already much less wasteful than we are to begin with.
12
This must be whetting Le Pen’s appetite
5
Reinstate taxes on the assets of the rich
Lifting them did not produce the desired economic stimulus. Reinstating them may help to spread some of France's economic pain and indicate to the bottom 20% that the top 20% is not as favored as they fear.
5
The crisis is much deeper than just this fuel tax . the whole tax system in France is unjust. VAT represents 40 % of the state total revenue and everybody pays it ,even on food . Income tax represents only 20 % of total revenue. CSG ( social security ) represents almost the other 40 % left and everybody also pays for it in unjust proportions. The elite pretend that they pay all the tax but in fact the mass of people at minimum wage which represent 70 % of the French population pay with VAT and CSG the majority of the French public budget ( also almost 70 % ) . The lie and confusion perdures ,alimented by the right wing media that distribute the false arguments. The fiscal fraud in France is enormous .And it also comes from the US : Google ,Apple, Mc Donald ( 1st clientele in France after USA ) Netflix, Starbucks, etc... pay zero taxes and invade the markets.
10
California, you've been warned...
11
@Chris. Actually CA voters decided to keep a gas tax on the most recent election to maintain our roads. We also pay more for gas because ours is treated for less emissions. Our state has banned free plastic bags at the markets. We voted to sell state bonds to fund housing for the homeless. We have shown consistently that we care and are willing to pay more, or sacrifice convenience, for a collective benefit.
2
There's no shame in backing down, tomorrow is another day.
1
Wonder if the protests will spread across the EU countries. German and British citizens are watching.
4
Awww, the French. Finally the socialist policies are rejected by the working class. What is the price of gas per litre in rural France. Around $5.88 - Yes $5.88 per gallon.
They would be protesting in Peoria if gas was $5 per gallon.
Using oil to balance the budget of the economies of Europe is insane. Yet the government just keeps using oil as the bogeyman.
6
Michael Bloomberg tried to push through a Macron-type policy on the people of Washington state by bankrolling a carbon tax referendum that would have steeply raised gasoline prices and ratcheted them up until Washington met his climate goals. It was hailed as a great progressive measure and a letdown when the voters soundly rejected it. Yet the tax contained no relief for middle-class people, let alone the poor, just a pure regressive tax that would have slowly been invested in renewable energy projects that would take decades to pay off. This is the cost of well-intentioned plutocrats like Bloomberg and Macron trying to save the world, and doing so in a way that costs them minimally and costs the little people dearly. They couldn't be more out-of-touch. "Let them eat cake," indeed.
13
If we don’t fight climate change there will be no poor people left for you to feel sorry for.
4
I recall that a little while ago many Americans were awed by Marcron, his presumed polish, intelligence, urbanity and centrism.
However, the current disturbances in France are teaching American neo liberals that their brand of liberal politics -- diversity, multi culturalism and treating one's own workers as if they were toad stools -- is hated.
Yes, American neo liberals have the svelte and sleek supporters on Columbus Avenue and in the dainty suburbs. But their opposition, in the countryside and small towns of America and other Western nations, is more ardent, brawnier, tougher and more ready to fight.
14
@David Gottfried. What are the American small towns fighting against? Diversity? Economic justice and equality? Universal healthcare? Developing clean energy jobs instead of unhealthy coal mines for our citizens?
1
French Revolution II?
3
Gosh, I wonder why those French populist protesters don’t understand how tax cuts for the wealthy are good for them or at least how they need to suffer so the wealthy can get even wealthier. Trump supporters apparently understand this a lot better. /S
4
As we talk inequality sparking discontent, let's give some credit to Central banks around the world who caused much of this inequality.
Partisans among us like to blame one party or the other, but the real culprit is the money printing since 2008 which primarily went in the hands of elite.
When's there more supply of money, the cost of everything rises. Elites are okay with it, because they got this money free or thru bailouts or at 0% from central banks. Not to mention they bought up assets at the bottom with this gifted money.
Rest not so much.
4
Well the French are notoriously difficult to be governed. Macron needs to reform the labour market and introduce other reforms to make the country more competitive. Good luck to that.
9
Liberals here at the NYT - look at this event and heed the warning: trying to implement your climate change agenda on the backs of the middle class will fail. The near religion status that climate change remediation has achieved in the halls of Sacramento, Manhattan, and Chicago is not shared in the rest of the country. If you want to ensure another four years of Trump and his ilk - keep it up. Bread and butter issues matter, and the abstract morality of climate change does not put food on the table, nor can you tax the rich to achieve your goals.
18
@Ragnar. It’s not the issue itself but how the government approaches the issue. For example, tax credits to buy electric vehicles would be better received by the people than a gas tax. This doesn’t make climate change any less of a problem. The government needs better solutions that do not squeeze working families.
2
Interesting. They work less hours than us, can almost never be kicked out of a job for poor performance. Every company shudders at the thought of opening any office in France. And now they want low prices, no change and they expect the government to magically support this extravagant lifestyle. Geez, Marie Antoinette lives in each of these yellow vests.
9
Les Gilets Jaunes have no plans to back down! They remain angry to have been given just a few crumbs of a temporary 6 month gas tax moratorium.
Their initial gripe is only the tip of the iceberg of boiling explosive anger for low salaries, increased taxes/charges and decreased buying power, leading to monthly struggles to make ends meet.
It is akin to Marie Antoinette saying "let them eat cake"; resolvng nothing!
Rather than address the Gilets Jaunes hmself, Macron cowardly and without any direct empathy, puts prime minister Édouard Philippe to the task, further alienating himself from their expressed complaints and misery.
Now with high school students and ambulance drivers joining in the protest, amongst other discontents; this mini insurrection will continue to snowball to dimensions perhaps not seen since revolutionary days.
9
Fascists and anarchists are not going to give up on trying to destroy French democracy. The general public was going along with this protest at first, but now it's showing signs of being a shadowy movement directed by elements of the extreme right whose only interest is bringing down Macron in order. Facebook is being used to manipulate the people who are sick of high taxes into attacking their core institutions. So much like the US MAGA movement. C'est degueulasse.
5
It is about time people see the reality. Today I was talking with a friend: his very old mother has a yellow vest on her back seat so she can go shopping. She lives in the countryside. To be safe, this lovely woman in her eighties signed a petition supporting the Yellow Vests a few days ago, after being stopped at a crossing by a male protester carrying a metal bar.
Stories abound.
Is that democracy? No it is bullying.
The very same people who attacked and robbed Paris businesses on Saturdays were the same calling for a new May 68 last spring when the government wanted to reform retirement. It did not happen. The government won.
What France is experiencing is indeed a huge frustration in the countryside after years of immobilism and focus on the suburbs. But this movement is being robbed by an underground force of agitators/anarchists and by a frenzy of lies on social media that reminds me of the Brexit campaign and its lies, the US election campaign and its untruths etc. Again this is a form of bullying.
Democracy is stronger than bullying. Or so I hope for the sake of our children.
Democracy needs a #MeToo. (The Earth needs a #MeToo, but that’s another story, though one at the heart of the current French crisis.)
5
Bravo to the French! Way to burst some bubbles. Were that Americans had half the gumption and political awareness.
3
Am disappointed that the article is vague about specific issues behind protests aside from the gas tax hike. Examples:
“The movement quickly latched onto much wider and deeper discontent with Mr. Macron’s fiscal policies, which were seen even by economists close to him as favoring the rich. The protesters did not miss the fact that the president had moved quickly to eliminate the tax on the wealthy, and then proceeded to raise taxes on pensions and gasoline.”
What tax on the wealthy did Macron eliminate? Sentence reads as if It means Macron eliminated the gas tax on the wealthy, then raised taxes on pensions and gas.
“The demonstrations spread on Monday to high school students, who blocked more than 100 schools to protest some of the government’s education policies and to show support to the Yellow Vests movement.”
What are “some” of the government’s objectionable educational policies that in part inspired so many students to protest?
6
"The tax increase was one in a series of increments meant in part to help finance the transition to cleaner energy."
If Mr Macron cares so much about transitioning to cleaner energy, why can't Mr. Macron tax the profits Banks make for financing those Fossil oil businesses?
Why can't Macron raise taxes on oil companies?
When Mr Macron was elected back in 2017 and newspapers such as the NYT were praising him as the savior of France and Europe, I predicted in the comment below that Mr Macron will be the catalyst that will bring the Far Right into power.
https://nyti.ms/2E0jKz8#permid=22259727
In France, Policians can't use issues such as race, abortion, religion, guns to divide voters and take their attention away from what actually matters as Politicians have successfully done in the US.
In France, contrary to the US Civic education is mandatory.
Unless, France and the EU change course and listen to its people, another revolution is not far away and this time, unlike Brexit, it will mark the end of the European Union.
9
Hopefully, the lefty liberal establishment in the USA -- which wants the same things as the French government (high taxes, social engineering, putting big cities over rural areas) IS LISTENING.
Hear us roar!
This whole thing also gives the lie the the oft-pushed liberal meme that "everything is perfect in EUROPE".....that people love high taxes as long as they receive luxe social welfare benefits.
I guess not.
18
Back in 2005 when Paris' African and Arab immigrant communities "protested" police brutality and discrimination the NYT called them "rioters".
But when the violence is conducted by largely white, rural French, the NYT calls them "protesters".
What a difference skin color makes!!!
9
@Nirrin Hello, thank you for your comment. You make an important point, and I will share your comment with other editors here. Wanted to make sure you saw that we have used the word "riot" when covering what's happening in Paris now. Here's one example: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/03/travel/travelers-need-to-know-paris-riots.html
Best,
Hanna
3
@Nirrin Typical American leftist reaction injecting race in a protest movement motivated by pocketbook issues. Not everything is race related
11
Yes, there is no consensus that the radical UN climate movement is scientific. Abundant peer reviewed research is skeptical of the denial of solar radiation as the control knob of the climate instead of the alarmist view that trace amounts of vital Co2 plant food at 0.117 % are the culprit. There is is a dearth of research papers supporting the denial of mother nature and natural variation.
Physicist Dyson: Obama 'Chose the Wrong Side' on Climate Change."It's very sad that in this country, political opinion parted ," Dyson said. "I'm 100 percent Democrat myself, and I like Obama. But he took the wrong side on this issue, and the Republicans took the right side."
Climate change, he said, "is not a scientific mystery but a human mystery. How does it happen that a whole generation of scientific experts is blind to obvious facts?"
In the past 10 years the discrepancies between what is observed and what is predicted have become much stronger," Dyson said. "It's clear now the models are wrong, but it wasn't so clear 10 years ago.
Carbon dioxide isn't as bad for the environment as claimed, he said, and actually does more good than harm.
Physicist Dyson: Obama 'Chose the Wrong Side' on Climate Change | Newsmax.com
8
@james matkin I respectfully disagree with you. We know too much about the chemistry and physics of CO2, our atmosphere, and heat, to deny rapid global warming
4
Finally, it is becoming clear that the gas tax hike is not the only issue for protesting French workers but also inadequate wages, rising cost of living, and a decline in their standard of living. As in our country, fulltime work is not paying their bills. In our country, meanwhile, income and estate taxes are being cut or held steady for those who are already doing well financially, crippling the ability of government to level the playing field for low-wage workers and their families through food, housing, utilities, healthcare, and childcare benefits. Meanwhile too, sales taxes and fees are being levied by local and state governments to support public schools, transportation and infrastructure instead of raising property and income taxes. These taxes hit low-income workers hardest, chipping away at their disposable income, while the richest get richer. American workers have just as much reason, if not more, to protest economic inequities.
3
I very much admire the ability of the French to protest at a moment's notice. It is a proud social tradition, to be sure.
4
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite! I’d be great if those ideas could happen over here, too!
6
This was the first real-world test to see if citizens of advanced nations would actually do anything to curb greenhouse gases. The answer: No! Climate change is real. And humanity will just have to endure it. (It is probably too late to do anything anyway, so huddle up and watch the mayhem of famine, mass migrations, riots, etc.)
4
There are ways to implement changes that can help alleviate the devastation of climate change. Imposing taxes on people who already do not have enough money for their basic needs is not the way to go. It is not that people do not care about the results of climate change. They are simply trying to survive on a daily basis. Until income inequality is addressed, climate change will continue to wreak havoc. The oil companies and the rest of the 1% do not care about climate change or they would not be doing what they are doing to cause it. They also do not care about ordinary people and whether they can survive or not either financially or due to the results of climate change.
1
As a general rule you shouldn't capitulate to people that resort to violence to achieve their aims. You're more likely than not to just get more violence.
20
@Ed This is politics ( the public organisation of the City in latin and greek origin ) not a game of boxing.
5
In California, the same year the Assembly passed our gas tax raising prices 25 cents, they also narrowly voted down a bill that would have expanded the tax credits for electric vehicle purchases up to $50K.
Leaders are not going to get people to unite behind efforts to fight climate change by taxing lower income people so that the 1% can all drive Teslas. Congrats to the French people for rising up in the face of blatant elitism disguised as environmentalism.
16
@Paul So CA basically said we would rather pay a bit more for gas than have our taxes keep subsidizing Teslas. And Californians are not rioting over that. Our majority care about climate change as a serious threat.
1
Pushing a 30 hour work week with costly social programs without concomitant increases in productivity means something has to give and that ends up being wages.
That rubber has been stretched as far as it goes. Now the chickens are coming home to roost.
10
This increase in gas tax has nothing to do with making France's economy more competitive, as the article suggests. Instead, this gas tax has to do with the climate change agenda, and we are seeing the backlash from many in France to the INCREASE in cost of living that comes from this agenda. There will be a similar backlash here in the U.S. if Democrats attempt to raise the cost of energy to reduce the usage of fossil fuels, and encourage the use of green energy.
The only way to politically advance the usage of green energy is to make its cost competitive with the cost of fossil fuels. This can only be done by advances in technology. Democrats would be better off making investments in government research to advance green energy to the point where its cost is on par with fossil fuels, and not pursuing a higher 'sin tax' on fossil fuels as Macron has done.
17
Interestingly enough, it is the French economist Thomas Piketty who has studied and pointed out the fact that the US has the largest income gap or inequality than that of any westernized nation. We should be swarming as the yellow jackets are today. The French know a thing or two about revolting. We should be paying closer attention. The 1% know these sort of riots or discontent in the streets are infectious, so try and quell matters asap. Wouldn't want Americans to get any ideas or inspiration, as we did exactly for the French in 1789.
12
Les Miserables but with gasoline. Macron is Inspector Javert.
The poor can’t afford gasoline, let them drive Tesla’s.
People forget but violence concerning gasoline prices was very common in the United States during the 1970s. Police often were detached to gasoline stations to prevent uprisings.
10
There is a way to make a carbon tax acceptable to those who are unwilling to make any sacrifice to save our planet. Make the carbon tax revenue neutral by redistributing all of such revenue in equal amounts directly to every grownup citizen. This way, those who use less fuel than average stand to gain from the program, and those who use lots of fuel are motivated to use more economical means of transportation.
4
The root cause :
In a global economy, of free trade, free movement of labour, and free movement of capital, the earnings of those exposed to it in the West , MUST, that is must fall over time to global average.
That would be about the level of China
Global free trade has lifted wages in China, and lowered China in the West.
Yes, it has moved billions out of poverty, but it has also spread misery in the West
Time to understand that an deal with it constructively
4
@Woof
Re: "Global free trade has lifted wages in China, and lowered [] in the West."
Dealing with the combination of huge wage disparities and free global trade (in one way or another) is necessary, but not sufficient.
It is impossible to force other nations to keep their wages above the cost of living of *other* nations, or force them to have similar work rules, pollution rules, tax rules, etc.
Warren Buffet came up with a scheme - which can be unilaterally imposed - to ensure balanced trade via vouchers which are bought and sold by importers and exporters. Basically, importers to the US would need to buy these vouchers in order to import a corresponding dollar value of goods. Exporters would be able to sell these vouchers in exchange for the amount they export. This enforces balanced trade, in dollar terms - unilaterally. It makes our exports less expensive for foreign purchasers, and imports more expensive. This is a fair method, and is not a blunt tool, like specific tariffs. The value for imports vs exports need not be 1:1 initially. Could be made to match current trade ratios, to avoid disruption, then gradually adjusted to balanced trade.
Otherwise, good luck.
And besides balanced trade, we need sufficient aggregate demand, via proper fiscal and monetary policies. Absent that, it is entirely possible to have equal wages, balanced trade - and *still* have high unemployment and wages below subsistence level. Balanced trade is necessary, but not sufficient.
5
This shows how hard it is to legislate necessary climate taxes. It’s going to hurt economically, that’s the whole point. However, I think it needs to hurt them with resources harder and those without less. Progressive taxes - private jets should pay very high taxes for example. Otherwise the buck will just be kicked down the road, for generations ahead - and we’re frankly out of time.
10
It's a pity Americans aren't capable of turning out in the street without permits and celebrities.
Of course, it's also true we hate each other too much, for a mass movement. Far better that nobody gets anything, than "those people" see any benefits.
3
Macron just relinquished any semblance of credibility and leadership. This is his Bush "I will not raise taxes" moment, and he backed down to the mob as Bush did to the Democrats. He is toast.
14
@paul I see it differently, not "backed down from a mob," but "heard and respected the voices of the people." It's unfortunate that citizens have to take to the streets to be heard and when they do, there is always the potential for violence instigated by a few or by police. Good leaders keep make sure their policies are fair to all segments of the population and that the basic needs of all are being met.
5
I think it is very sensible of Macron to back down. He is not an authoritarian dictator. Elected officials need to listen to the people who elected them.
28
The article says that the people who elected him live in cities and will be unaffected by the tax.
2
In 2016, Chris Christie raised the N.J. tax on gasoline by 23 cents a gallon, the first tax increase on this product since 1988, but drivers in Jersey aren't required to carry yellow-safety vests in their motor vehicles so I guess we just let it slide. Oh well! And to my friends in France I know you pay the equivalent of $6 a gallon for gasoline so I understand your pain and your protests.
4
It is a historical fault in French society that political violence is glorified rather than punished. France has a representative democracy, but there is no telling how far disorder will go when the elected politicians make unpopular decisions. The French can't have it both ways: either they pretend they are perpetually overthrowing hated monarchs or learn to live with the choices they make in elections.
6
Ah, the chickens have come home to roost. The Elites believe that the working class should pay more to stop global warming. They thought that the deplorable serfs would just take it and be happy to be poorer. Nyet, ain't going to happen.
I hope the liberals learn something from this. Push too far and we will hit back.
11
@Jon Galt Talk to Mr. Moderate above you, he thinks it's not righteous working men but dependent lefties wanting free stuff who are protesting. We sure get around!
1
Apparently France also has its own flyover country that the political class is unfamiliar with.
8
“This anger is rooted in a profound injustice, that of not being able to live decently from the fruits of one’s work, of not being able to provide for the needs of one’s children,” he said.
Here's a suggestion: Work harder and work longer.
What this is really about is that the left feels as though they're not getting enough free stuff
4
Mr. Moderate, you are out of touch with the reality in France, where full-time working class people, dependent on their cars because they live in the “exurbs” (because they can’t afford the city or suburbs) run out of money for food around the 20th of the month (even before the gas tax that him them hardest).
It’s not about “working longer or harder”, it’s about getting paid a living wage...
2
What for? To make rich richer that they should love in luxury doing nothing while everybody else works hard and lives in dumps?
@Mr. Moderate Yep, that's all we want, free stuff, even though we work very hard and pay taxes into the system ourselves, bring on the free stuff.
Sarcasm aside, I just want as much free stuff as corporate elites get in write offs. Just have Bill Gates send his extra write off money to the rest of us and we won't ask for any more free stuff!
1
A 25 cent per gallon tax increase (.22 Euro approx.) is not inconsequential if you're working class and living in France's provinces where public transportation options are limited or non-existent. These folks are reliant on automobile transport to get to and from work. Then consider that the average gross living wage of a typical French family is only approximately 1350-to-1770 Euro per month ($1531-to-$2007). The reason for the civil unrest: too many of the proposed tax increases disproportionately affect the already financially strapped working classes.
13
@Jackson, Geez, sounds all too familiar. At least they get health care and don't go into the poor house paying those bills.
1
I recently returned from a bus trip through France and found it has regulations upon regulations. Every bus and truck driver has a monitor that alerts the police, not his boss, if he exceeds his designated work time by one second. The police can pull any vehicle over and scan the onboard database for speeding and maintenance violations. Trucks are not allowed on streets and roads from midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday. They sit in truck stops burning gas to keep warm. The gendarmes pulled our bus, national tour company - not a fly by night outfit, over because they saw our driver reaching for his sunglasses and thought he was trying to get his prescription glasses on before they saw him. After a complete scan of the bus’s database, the driver’s database (every driver has entries, including health status, in a national database) and his cellphone (thought he also might be texting), they left after 25 minutes and minimal apology.
While all the above might have its origins in previous accidents, to an American it borders on oppressive. Maybe the French and other Europeans might be reaching the point where enough is enough from the omnipresent nanny state. A few cents might be all the trigger they need.
12
No it is not oppressive, it is expected and welcome to myself, as a road user and a consumer of bus travel. Road traffic in Europe is extremely dense and the opportunity for jurisdiction shopping and abuse of workers is real.
4
The French have picked up their pitchforks. I await the same showing if discontent by US citizens.
19
@S
Already happened in 2016.
Then for the midterms those that can't even lift a pitchfork won.
Lets see what happens in 2020.
6
@S, It's coming. Sooner than we think.
3
So much for climate change action.
4
France has one of the smallest, if not THE smallest carbon footprints amongst the wealthiest countries. Meanwhile, Alberta's claim to fame is tar sands...
4
Carbon tax and climate change action aren't the same thing. If they were, Canada would not have INCREASED their greenhouse gas emissions last few years would they? Alberta crude selling for $40.00 less a barrel than what the rest of the world outputs because you won't build a pipeline but you still find a way to increase your carbon emissions, and be critical of others actually reducing theirs?
1
@Marcus Aurelius
That is the standard answer from americans when they want to stick their heads in the sand and avoid doing anything at all.
It could have been prophesied 30 years ago that globalism would result in unrest in first world countries as their standards of living would have to decrease due to job loses to China and other underdeveloped countries.
We are seeing the beginnings of it. Governments have to either raise taxes to maintain the social spending, or they have to cut spending on the poor. It can't be otherwise. Even people who say that we need to bleed the rich will agree that there are not enough of them to sustain the present economic models in countries like France.
10
Maybe Macron should move to CA to pursue his green dreams. Here in CA he will be able to increase taxes for every progressive cause and not a single of the disengaged citizenry will protest!
16
yes after 7 years of drought and the worst wild fires in state history caused in part by climate change, Californians defeated the attempt by your fellow anti-science Republicans and voted by over a 10 percent margin to keep the rise in the gas tax.
2
@Richard
Do you think the much higher CO2 levels during the time of Dinosaurs were caused by anti-science republicans? Reading and open mind might help.
3
@Richard You do realize that CA emits less than 1% of GHG and even if it’s cut to zero the impact on global, and therefore CA climate, will be negligible. In any case CA raised gas taxes to pay for road repair at a time when the state has billions in surplus and it has nothing to do with climate change. Emotional hysteria about green taxes is not going to change facts! Citizens of CA are suffering from Stockholm syndrome from being held captive by tax-loving and illogical policies of liberals.
1
I am not sure that the NYT moderators will publish this comment and can only hope that they will because what I am about to say is on topic, civil and important.
To all those who are critical of the French Protesters: You need to keep in mind that on average, the protesters energy use and carbon footprint is far lower than the average US Citizen!
Remember, our country represents 5% of the world's population and uses 20% of the world's energy!
France doesn't even make it in the top ten energy gluttons per person.
FYI: I have been talking about energy for years. My water heater is limited to 4 hours a day. I have solar. 100% of my lighting is LED. Foam Insulation injected into the walls. Out of over 2,000 homes in my area, my home is rated the most energy efficient. How many of the commentators can make this statement of fact?
Most of the commentators have not done what my household has done and none, myself included, are even close to what the average French/European Citizen energy use is on a daily, weekly or yearly basis!
So why are people so quick to criticize the French Protesters, who just so happen to be far better at saving the planet than our own country?
It is easy to be a critic. It is a lot harder for our criticism to be on target!
20
@The Critic
Would look into instant on water heaters I am not sure running your water heater for 4 hours a day is saving you much energy. You still have to bring the tank back up to temperature and that takes energy. If it is well insulated might be more efficient to leave it on. Not to mention they aren't designed to be used that way.
5
Marcon does not particularly want a 1789 redux under his administration.
3
@MS, Meant Macron here, typo.
1
After reading this I'm still not certain what these yellow vested protesters want from the government other than a vague and very French desire for 'the whole baguette'. Are they seeking lower taxes? A redistributed tax scheme where the rich pay more and everyone else pays less? How do they expect the government to raise wages? Is the whole thing just an unfocused outpouring of anger with no particular objective?
More details on the political situation please!
4
I sympathise with your puzzlement. But the plethora of comments miss a dimension that is very visible from here. France is an economic paradox. Those in work achieve a productivity that matches that of the US and Germany, and do so with shorter hours and longer vacations, which often are ignorantly derided in the US and elsewhere. But France has chronic unemployment of over 10 per cent, which masks the shocking levels of long term worklessness among certain groups, including low educated young white males. In the past France regularly devalued its currency to retain a competitive edge, and achieve high employment. The euro makes that impossible and is an economic disaster for them. How many of the rioters look as if they have any kind of job, or have had any kind of job in the last 10 years? When you have nothing to lose, you start destroying, first, things, and then political and social institutions.
4
Just an aftermath thought. Car makers wants to sell newer, more eco friendly cars? What kind of savings could workers do in three years of total tax exemption from all fuel types?
Would they be able to buy new, more ecological cars then?
Big truks? Macron policy didd not meet Hulot expectations or what else we don't know??
@Junior, Interestingly enough, the mileage of many of the vehicles sold within France (and Europe) get 2 or 3 times the MPG we get here in the US. I wish we'd the option to purchase such vehicles here.
7
The real question is who is fueling the riots and for what purpose. Are the farmer/workers the real leaders? Or is it the forces of hate on the left and right using the issue for their own gain. And it seems that their common enemy is Macron... and they want him out.
5
Macron now seems to have lost whatever little opportunity he had in rescuing the EU from its current crisis !This is a double tragedy with Angela Merkel on her way out .
2
American's should pay close attention to the French. Perhaps it is because they lived under a hostile dictatorship less than 100 years ago. Perhaps it is in their DNA to demonstrate and fight for what they believe is right and fair. Perhaps that is why they, as a whole, enjoy a higher standard of living than we here in the US.
12
Your last claim is absolute nonsense.
6
Put a hefty green tax on airline tickets and jet fuel. Use the money from that to build public transportation in the poor suburbs and countryside.
9
France lives on tourism, so you recommend they kill the golden goose.
2
For Macron to back down instantly shows his lack of foresight and his personal weakness. He lost. Obviously the "Yellow Shirt" movement now will get stronger and with a better organized and focused leadership. Also it will encourage similar movements in other countries starting with Belgium and The Netherlands. Europe is in serious trouble. Obviously Macron should resign.
5
Instantly? You're as out of touch as Macron. The French need no advice from the clueless, there are enough of them in Macron's amateur government.
2
In India though, there have been no such protests given that the percentage increase in fuel rates for consumers have been way higher and people at comparatively more poor than those in France. The government in India should learn from this and stop filling the corporate pockets while emptying those of the working class people.
Hope is there that authoritarian minded leader like the one in USA and India may be kicked out in the next elections and common sense may prevail again.
13
It is very sad to realize how much violence must have been put in place to make Macron react. For almost a month, he refused to take any action that would have been seen as a "weakness". In the end, he is weakened as no other president before him since decades.
The worst part with this crisis - which, as a lot of commentators rightfully say, is not about fuel taxes but rather about the mechanics of the modern governance - is that for many, many years, politicians were telling us: we understand the people. We understand the suffering. Something has to be done. Etc. etc.
Well, here is the ultimate proof that their understanding was nothing more than a political marketing key message. I work with political figures here in France, and cosider myself a patriot of my country, but I am very much afraid that even despite the unprecedented social movement, this "understanding" the Prime minister Philippe talks about, is yet another formula, with an empty substance.
13
This is what wealth inequality does.
Of course, as with any movement, far right and far left will try to take over the movement but it appears to be a grassroots movement as it is in America.
The answer is to first prosecute corruption and claw back all the wealth that has been stolen over the last 50 years to preserve/restore/improve social safety nets around the world.
The true sustainable answer is to seriously regulate financial greed - before the insatiably greedy destroy OUR world again in their demented quest for power.
11
To all those who are critical of the French Protesters: You need to keep in mind that on average, the protesters energy use and carbon footprint is far lower than the average US Citizen!
Remember, our country represents 5% of the world's population and uses 20% of the world's energy!
France doesn't even make it in the top ten energy gluttons per person.
FYI: I have been talking about energy for years. My water heater is limited to 4 hours a day. I have solar. 100% of my lighting is LED. Foam Insulation injected into the walls. Out of over 2,000 homes in my area, my home is rated the most energy efficient. How many of the commentators can make this statement of fact?
Most of the commentators have not done what my household has done and none, myself included, are even close to what the average French/European Citizen energy use is on a daily, weekly or yearly basis!
So why are people so quick to criticize the French Protesters, who just so happen to be far better at saving the planet than our own country?
Why are we Americans so quick to judge French Protesters whose energy use is far lower than ours? Why are we so critical of those whose energy costs are already double and even triple of what we pay?
It is easy to be a critic. It is a lot harder for our criticism to be on target!
5
@The Critic
Critic, how many children do you have? The best way to help the planet is to limit the amount of people on it by not propagating. All else is just a band aid to make us feel good.
5
I don't have any children.
Seeing the direction that our world was going, both my spouse and I decided years ago that it would not be wise or fair to have offspring.
1
@Pat
I don't have any children and if you bothered to read the comments posted before this one, you would have seen that I addressed this!
PARIS (Reuters) - When Emmanuel Macron rose to power, he put the environment at the heart of his agenda. Eighteen months later, anger over those policies has stoked protests that are a huge challenge for the French president.
2
Remember that Macron's environment minister resigned in protest less than a month ago, and then look up the terms Greenwashing and "useful idiot"
3
There is no excuse for violence.
4
@George - Perhaps you need to consider your definition of violence. Is it violent to tax poor people so much that they cannot afford to eat healthy food? Is it violent to make healthcare so unaffordable that the non-wealthy cannot afford treatment? Of course it is.
When one has been kicked and beaten for too long, one must defend oneself.
32
I don't think anyone asked for your permission.
7
France should implement a carbon fee and dividend policy similar to Canada’s. Charge fossil fuel companies for emissions and return 100% of the revenue to the people.
9
Considering that France has close to if not the best carbon footprint of all wealthy nations, you might forgive the French for rolling their eyes at advice from Canada, of all countries.
6
@Nick Thanks, Macron should have followed your suggestion. Carbon taxes are intended to impose on consumers some of the external costs of their energy choices and to encourage choices that are less costly to the environment. By levying the tax at the producer level and then redistributing the taxes to consumers, Canada in effect raises the cost of fossil fuels and thus encourages consumer choice of green alternatives without lowering consumer incomes.
2
A man retired from his job as an international banker lectured me about the morally reprehensible block of high fossil fuel taxes by the GOP for the purpose of addressing climate change. We were taking a break from him learning to use his new 44 foot express motor yacht in which he intended to travel the world. Macron reminds me of this.
31
You do understand that Macron wanted to tax diesel fuel, correct? Not the other way around like your poor remark depicts.
3
@Robert Smith
Read it again. He clearly understands what Macron wanted. You clearly did not understand what his reply was trying to say.
3
Capitalism across the world is at an inflection point. It is failing. Democracy, the supposed guardian, is failing along with it.
Higher taxes are not the solution. Capitalism fails becauses it distributes the fruit of labor in an excessivley unequal way.
1) The cost of labor is supposed to be driven by supply and demand. There is a lot of supply for CEO labor, qualified. Yet the cost of that labor is excessively high. Why? Because the rules are stacked to favor CEO jobs - insider dealing across the board.
2) Capital and its derivatives distort to redistribute the fruit wealth generation away from labor to capital - creating and heirdom of the have's and not haves's.
3) As the capital is now in the hands of few they set out to distort democracy undermining the principle of one-person equal one-vote to one-dollar one-vote.
My sense is that the combination of democracy and capitalism is at the beginning of its full demise. The Chinese model may be an alternative - though not compelling ot me.
19
I do not believe that Marxism is the answer to people's complaints although I do believe that under Marxism, those complains would be silenced.
5
There should have been a huge uprising like this in America after the federal government mandated the new Obamacare taxes. Instead, we simmered for years and then elected Trump as revenge. It would have been smarter to protest in a timely fashion. The American middle class needs to protect its interests because neither the government nor the media care one whit about it.
10
@Asher B Have you forgotten about the Tea Party, which is now relabelled as the Republican Party? And which is now the Party of Trump?
The Tea Party protests were funded by the Kochs. One may ask who is funding and organizing these protests. Who benefits from a take-down of Macron? LePen's party, itself funded by Putin?
These are big protests for a small tax. That is not what it is all about.
1
@Asher B: Americans are much slower to anger and protest than the French.
But once we get mad….Katie bar the door.
We would make the French look like schoolchildren on a picnic.
For starters: we have guns.
2
Do you really care about the planet?
Are you willing to pay more to save the planet?
If yes answer yes to two or more of these questions, then the answer is NO!
Do you have more than 1 child? Do your vacations involve air travel or cruises? Do you have more than 3 jeans? Do you eat out more than once a month? Do you have more than one electronic device? Do you own a vehicle that gets less than 35 MPG? Are you the only person in the vehicle when driving? Do you eat any kind of meat more than twice a week? Do you buy fresh fruit/vegetables out of season? Is your home larger than 500 square feet? Do you drink coffee, tea, or alcohol? Are a majority of the items in your home made in foreign countries?
It is easy to post comments proclaiming indignation towards others just so that you can feel good. But the moment it hits your pocketbook, then you may not be so willing to pay the piper!
Think about this: If your current electric bill is $150 or more per month, are you willing to have it double or triple to save the planet? Now have your heating bill do the same and start paying $9 plus dollars per gallon for gas. Remember, your paycheck isn't going to keep up with the rising costs!
You should also keep in mind that in order to save the planet, energy consumption in the developed world will need to be reduced by 85%... that's not going to happen!
Sadly, there is a 95% chance that the human race will be extinct in less than 1,200 years - look it up!
8
Correction:
There is a 95% chance that the human race will be extinct in 9,200 years...
You can Google this and read the theory for yourself!
1
Correction:
There is a 95% chance that the human race will be extinct in 9,200 years.
One can easily Google this and read the theory for themselves!
@The Critic
There is a 100% chance that any prognostication about what the chance of anything is in 9,200 years is completely inaccurate. You cannot even imagine the technology we could invent in 9200 years so how can you make predictions about what will happen in 9,200 years? And for the record, if I own 3 electronic devices that are modern and energy efficient, and you own one that isn't, I am probably using less energy than you to power my three than you are to power your one.
1
Taxes and violent protests, and the politics of it makes no sense to me. That's France in a nutshell.
Mr. Macron you do not have to worry about "the end of the month" and have the luxury of focusing on "the end of the world". For those of us who have to juggle between eating, paying rent and paying for medications this is an ongoing crisis. The wealthy in this world simply have too much, multiple homes many of which are just investments that stand empty, luxury and exotc cars, yachts. planes, helicopters..... tax them.
23
I'm not french, but I understand them.
I use to travel around France.
I drive LPG
Biofuel pumps are scarce.
I payed 96 cents per LITER this summer!
Considering double the consumption in respect to petrol efficiency of my engine, that's like paying 1.90 cents 1liter of petrol. Even at 10 km per liter on an average 600 km per week, 2400 km a month, it's 500 euros.
So where is the ecological transition? LPG should be costing LESS, or something else has to add up to those not understanding the real Math for an average french (and voisins) veryday workers/students ?
4
@Junior: what is LPG? Americans have no idea.
What I don't get is that a bunch of white men in yellow vests riot, and their story is covered from the perspective of their having a legitimate grievance about being ignored by their elected representatives, AND the government caves immediately to their pressure. However, if the riots were filled with people of darker skin tones, I wonder what the coverage and political rhetoric would be???
4
Haha, the constant American focus on race. Beautiful.
11
@Beth, Oh please, stop injecting race into every single thing or issue.
5
@Beth: they are citizens and THEY VOTE.
I suspect Macron is afraid of being replaced by Marine Le Pen.
3
All of these comments that sneer at the rural working class exemplify how out-of-touch affluent liberals are. I’d wager most of the commenters here have never spent any real amount of time in a small town.
Keep it up, folks, stay ensconced in your blue bubbles, and you’ll be seeing Trump get re-elected in 2020.
16
@FlipFlop Whenever we (on the left) have peaceful protests the right screams and moans (And often, actually literally attack us for it) but when the right has a full on riot, the left peacefully listens and tries to fix the issues they are worried about.
Truthfully, every year that goes by I listen to people on the right less and less because of their violence and hypocrisy.
7
The fact that you just equated all rural people with the right proves my point.
4
@FlipFlop, If you need a sense of reality, all's you must do is ride a public bus. Something I highly doubt most NYT readers do or have done in the past 20 years.
4
Rage against the huge wealth/income inequality in France is justified.
The French governing elite and its media may enhance the standing of the far right Marine Le Pen, while down playing the leftist insurgent Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The elites and their media worldwide are terrified of having a leader like Bernie Sanders in the US, Jeremy Corbyn in Britain, Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico, orJean-Luc Mélenchon in France.
Watching the elites and their media undermine leftist candidates is sickening, but darkly amusing. They end up empowering those like Trump and LePen.
A worthwhile article on the Democratic Party elites attitude to Bernie Sanders: https://spectator.us/bernie-sanders-democratic-front-runner/
The wealth/income inequality is as much as a time bomb as greenhouse gases/climate change.
16
Just curious how the NYTimes can say Macron had "no political experience before he was elected" when he was Minister of the Economy under Valls/Hollande? He also worked for the French Finance Ministry from 2004-2008. This should be corrected.
5
@FMM
Until elected, Macron was as much as amateur at politics as I am, perhaps more so. If you can say he was experienced, then so am I, simply by virtue of commenting on politics.
A minister in France does not have to be a member of parliament, nor hold any other popular mandate. All he has to do is be chosen for the role. Political experience AS A POLITICIAN implies campaigning and winning votes in the face of opposition.
The statement is entirely correct.
10
@FMM, before Macron was elected President in May 2107, he had never held any elective office whatsoever. This is but one of the reasons why he is so out of touch with French people. All he knows is the gilded world of investment banking and high-echelon government officials making €15,000 or more.
5
“If we can stand up to [Hitler], all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands” - Churchill’s Finest Hour Speech
In 1945 the Anglo-Americans and the Soviet Union won World War II over Germany and Japan
From 1945 to 1973 the Free World was dominated by some version of Keynesian - New Deal policies (usually more generous than in the U.S.). In other words: Demand Side economics.
From 1945 to 1972 the global GNP went up 100% - that is, in 30 years the the global economy grew more than it had in the prior 11,000 years since the Neolithic revolution, the dawn of civilization
In the U.S., from 1945 to 1972 GNP went up 100% and median wages, wages for each sub group, poor, working class, middle class, upper middle class, rich all went up in lock step with that
This was histories most golden of golden ages where every form of human endeavor reached new highs (except painting unless you like Pollock) culminating in a man landing on the moon and the Beatles “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”
We’ve passed through 3 phases since 1972:
Demand-side saturation: 1973-1981
Supply-side bias policies: 1981-1998
Supply-side saturation: 1998-now
Since 1972, in the US the median wage has remained flat even though GNP has gone up 150%. This is neither ethical, moral, sustainable or just & can only be done with complicity of elites across the establishment.
This dysfunction in civics has given us Trump & instability, but it will give us worse if not remedied.
12
Macron could put a gasoline tax on tourism: busses, rental cars and other luxury travel. The tourism industry is viable means of making a living to the french worker, it is not all. It is ridiculous to ignore the cost to farmers, transport and rural workers who must drive. France has excellent public transportation, responsible rule efficient cars and is leading the world in the fight to address climate change, but they cannot be left to act alone. Americans need to protest our leaders rejection of the issue and press for global cooperation on this dire issue instead of pressing for oil and gas drilling and expansion of the oil economy at this juncture.
6
Was it just the fuel tax or did the fuel tax become the means for anti-Macron/anti EU trolls to get the discontented, who are unhappy with how the one-percent are affecting their lives, into the streets?
3
It is fascinating, and yet, not surprising, that there are NO women Yellow Vests (at least in the video presented) nor walking with Macron and his government. It makes me wonder how this could be different if the other 50% of the country was included.
@julie
Stunning.
The only yellow vests I've come across in person in Paris were a group of 10 women capping off their day of protest with a beer. This might be astounding to you, but women can have political opinions in France and aren't afraid express them, either.
As to parliament, Macron called for gender parity, although I doubt he achieved it.
9
@julie There are lots of women out protesting. Yes, more men -- for many reasons -- but lots of women. Although there are no official spokespeople for the movement, many of those who are speaking on French television are women. Some of the first protests were organized by women.
6
@julie: maybe the women are WORKING....or home watching small children?
2
IMHO, what we're watching here is the unleashing of a broad-based international discontent with economic policies that look good on paper (in terms of national GDP, etc.), but in practice punish the working class of a society.
IMHO, these protests will continue to build, and likely spread to other countries over the next decade, until necessary attention is paid to the plight of working and lower middle class of the advanced industrial world - not to mention the residents of the developing world.
The globalist consensus of low taxes on an elite and a low wages and levels of government service for everyone else has not led to economic nirvana - but instead to looming crisis on multiple fronts.
Macron is right to want to fight climate change - but you cannot do it on the backs of people who have no recourse but to use a car in order to earn their daily bread.
As the Jeffrey Epstein scandal will demonstrate here in America, there are two sets of rules in the world - one for our economic elite, and the other for everyone else.
Either we discover that we are all in this together - as economies, as economic classes, as peoples of the planet - or these problems will just become worse.
We need a capitalism with a human face - a form of capitalism that seeks to lift all boats while simultaneously protecting the planet, and the dignity of all human beings - and we need it tomorrow.
64
@Matthew Carnicelli
Macron is not trying to fight climate change with this measure. His argument is cynical because France already has extremely high gasoline taxes represting close to 85% of the price. It also has close to if not the best carbon footprint of all the wealthy nations.
He is simply taxing the poor to pay for tax cuts to the rich, and you and others have fallen for it.
23
Not going to happen here. Americans never had the revolutionary spirit to stand up to an economic system.
3
Mathew I wish I could have given your comments a thousand "recommendations"!
7
We really see here the difficulties in trying to limit climate change. People, myself included, like to drive their cars. They want gasoline to be priced low. From a climate change perspective, a tripling of the gas prices in the United States
(and I'm not exaggerating) would be very appropriate. But there is no political desire on either side of the aisle for anything remotely like that. The acts in France further promote the idea that low gas prices are a "sacred cow" that should not be touched. How sad.
3
@joelibacsi Gas here already costs $6 - $7 /gallon. Hardly cheap. People drive small cars that you can't even buy in the U.S. Hardly gas guzzlers. People use public transportation whenever possible. This protest is not about climate change. It is about economic struggle. It just so happened that the latest fuel tax increase was the spark that lit the fire. It could have been something else. As @Matthew Carnicelli wrote in another comment, these protests reflect widespread discontent with an economic model than benefits the rich, the 1%, whatever you choose to call them, at the expense of everyone else and the planet.
30
The Yellow Vests' protests, taking advantage of the occasion of a proposed tax increase, do reflect old and deep resentments of inequality and perhaps for those being kept at the margins of society, those with no voice in the enjoyment of a nation's wealth. This seems as good a time as any to sit down and sort things out. A reminder that 'no chain is stronger than it's weakest link'.
11
Once again, cheap populism for extra pennies in your wallet wins out over the long term prosperity of the entire planet. Good job humanity
3
@Cassandra : there is zero evidence this would have REDUCED consumption.
It would only make it more expensive for the poorest people, and they would have to take the extra money out of their budgets for food, heat, clothing.
THEY HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO DRIVE!
Taxing them offers no alternative to driving!
3
Systemic problems in our economy have to be fixed by those with a holistic view, and impact on the poor has to be part of that big picture. It is clear the price of using carbon fuel has to rise for humanity to have a future.
The chemistry of the planet doesn't care about whether or not humans figure out how to save themselves. The life that will become extinct by this occurring change should care, and they should use any tools available, including government, taxes, and politics, to limit the burning of carbon. It may not be your ideal tool to prevent humanity from killing itself off, but it is our ONLY tool. The profit incentive marketplace, which does really well in rationing rare products and services that are not necessary, does really poorly at controlling lethal by-products like planet warming and other undesirable external costs. Tens of thousands of scientists from competing research organizations from around the world, agree that humanity is heading for extinction. It is now too late for cap and trade. Government regulations are our ONLY means to keep from present market forces, by burning carbon, in this case, and destroying our future.
2
These taxes only hurt working and poor folks. Called regressive taxes. These folks still have to work. Not the same for rich, mostly white French. This has nothing to do with curtailing carbon emissions.
And yes, at least the French get out and protest. Take a lesson, middle America. Save the democratic republic from the greedy regime in power and running congress.
15
@Jack black south. They are protesting having to pay more to help save the planet. No thanks. Perhaps you have forgotten the women’s marches against Trump’s policies by people who want to save our country, and the planet. And done without violence.
2
@Maggie
Macron is not fighting climate change with this measure. France has close to if not the best carbon footprint of all the wealthy nations. France already has extremely high gasoline taxes represting close to 85% of the price of around $7/gallon. 30 cents a gallon more won't change a thing, because car drivers don't drive for pleasure, they drive because they have to get to work, or go shopping miles away from home.
Macron's argument is cynical deflection. He is simply wants to tax the poor to pay for tax cuts to the rich, and so he used greenwashing to do it by calling it a green tax. Of course, many here have fallen for the ruse as designed : see the political expression popularly attributed to Lenin, "Useful idiot"
11
@Maggie No, people are not protesting having to pay more to help save the planet. People are protesting a regressive tax system that burdens the poor and favors the rich.
9
The selfishness of these rural Frenchmen is appalling. Your worried about the end of the month? French has some of the highest wealth redistribution of any country. Imagine how the rest of the world feels, especially when global warming takes effect because first world counties can’t get their act together to reduce greenhouse gases.
Like many French before him, Macron caved to aggressors far too easily.
5
@Russell
Macron is not fighting climate change with this measure. France has close to if not the best carbon footprint of all the wealthy nations. France already has extremely high gasoline taxes represting close to 85% of the price of around $7/gallon. 30 cents a gallon more won't change a thing, because car drivers don't drive for pleasure, they drive because they have to get to work, or go shopping miles away from home.
Macron's argument is cynical deflection. He simply wants to tax the poor to pay for tax cuts to the rich, and called a green tax. Of course, as planned many here have fallen for the greenwashing : see the political expression popularly attributed to Lenin, "Useful idiot"
4
@Russell: just keep taxing people and forcing social engineering on them.
You must LOVE Trump, to want to re-elect him so much!
1
"The projected gas tax increase was equivalent to only a few cents a gallon". And they riot over *that*? Yeah sure... the well being of the planet isn't worth that. Sigh... Le Pen supporters.
3
@j: they already have about a $5 tax on gasoline.
This would have added another 30 cents to that.
It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Virtually NONE of this money goes to help the working classes, or even clean up the environment.
It just lines the pockets of greedy politicians.
3
As much as carbon emissions are important the contributions by France doesn't warrant the social upheaval it is contributing to.
Ranking carbon emissions in millions of metric tons by country (2015), China is first but the US comes in second with 5000 while France comes in as 21 producing 290, among the least of major countries.
If Macron wants to continue to lead France he can't also take on the mantle of spiritual leader of a carbon emissions reduction movement when the fact is that if the rest of the world reduced their emissions per capita as France has that would be a far greater contribution to impacting global warming.
Better for France to address the income inequality that plagues the Western world if it wants to quell these destabilizing and destructive demonstrations.
16
And now they can start paying the millions of dollars it's going to take to pay for the damage caused by the vandalism and property destruction done in the rioting!
6
Whether one agrees with these protests or not, one thing that struck me was at least some people in France cared enough to protest an action by the government that they felt was unfair. Americans would never do that. Our gas taxes rise, our food prices rise, companies close and workers are laid off, CEO's make millions while workers can't afford to buy a decent house and there's barely any reaction from the American public. A few editorials around the country, some grumbling at dinner tables and that's it. Americans just accept whatever our government throws at us. Even the use of our taxpayer dollars to bail out the big banks that stole our retirement savings wasn't enough to wake us up. The revelations that current cabinet members use our tax dollars for their own enrichment provokes not a peep. Americans can't tear ourselves away from our screens long enough to protest anything. At least the French protesters cared enough to take some action and didn't just accept attempt by the government to tax them yet again. Good for them.
155
@Ms. Pea. The “action” they took was violent. Americans protest, in the main, at the voting booth. But there have also been protests against Trump and his reactionary policies. Our gas taxes, btw, SHOULD rise. We are killing the planet.
7
@Ms. Pea: So true! We are too sedated with our TV, electronics and other creature comforts. We could be invaded and it's be days before some even noticed.
14
@Ms. Pea Agree. Americans, rather than being shocked by the protests -- which, for the most part, have been and remain peaceful -- should be inspired.
16
Healthcare and education isn't so free as France would have us believe. Nothing is free
15
@NYC Dweller
Of course nothing is "free" but paying a fraction of the cost (Medicare, company med insurance, etc.) feels like closer to it.
As for France, their medical system mostly tax supported and is rated at being twice as good as that of the US while costing half as much.
4
@GerardM Yet they are so poor that a 30 cent on the gallon tax increase will severely affect their livelihoods. Sounds to me any savings they got from free or cheap health care is immediately sunken by high real estate costs.
This is the fundamental problem in the West right now. You can make every doctor and nurse work for free, but your cost of living will not decrease, because all your take home pay ends up just going to higher housing costs, which acts like a sponge for whatever residual disposable income you have.
@NYC Dweller. However much can be shared, and that is much more healthy than dig-eat-dig greed and cruelty
This is a tax hike on the poor to pay for tax cuts to the rich, no more, no less. Commentors parroting Macron's cynical "green tax" argument are playing the role of Lenin's "useful idiots".
I know them personally, Macronists are populists who signed on to his cult of personality before he even had a programme. Macron only got in because he refused to say anything about his programme except vague Blairist slogans until a month before the election. And then his programme appeared only slightly less of an economic catastrophe than the right wing Republican party, while all the rest of the candidates were seen as racing for the cliff in economic terms. Macron received 22% of the vote in the first round, and only won because he faced Marine Le Pen, an even bigger political amateur with no economic platform other than hari kiri and a social disaster waiting to happen. Macron claimed to be the president of all the French but has proven to be beholden only to his own aristocratic class. He has no popular legitimacy beyond his cult members. The protests will not stop here with such meager appeasement, it's far too late for that.
31
Furthermore, Macron is not fighting climate change with this measure. France has close to if not the best carbon footprint of all the wealthy nations. France already has extremely high gasoline taxes representing close to 85% of the price of around $7/gallon. 30 cents a gallon more won't change a thing, because car drivers don't drive for pleasure, they drive because they have to get to work, or go shopping miles away from home.
Macron's argument is cynical deflection. He simply wants to tax the poor to pay for tax cuts to the rich, and so he called it a green tax. Of course as planned, many here have fallen for the greenwashing as designed. (Again, see the political expression popularly attributed to Lenin, "Useful idiot" )
3
Gasoline taxes are higher in France than in America.
But still too low relative to the damage gasoline is doing to future climate, and to the economic well-being of countless generations to come.
The great great great grandchildren of those French taxi drivers, etc. are not going to be proud of their ancestors' pigheaded addiction to fossil fuels.
That said, it is unfair that the burden of necessary price increases on climate-wrecking carbon fuels should fall upon people with lower incomes.
Everyone should pay more for these fuels, but poorer people should get compensation in the form of lower income taxes and improved public services. Yes, even if some of those people enjoy marching through streets, causing commotion and smashing things.
7
The new fuel tax would have provided an additional $4 billions revenue to the government, issue is that less than 20% were dedicated to the green cause, the remaining part could be used for instance to buy diesel fuel for the military.
And this government isn't ecologically-minded at all. End of this fiscal year $700 millions originally dedicated to the fight against global warming, but unused, will be transferred back to the general budget.
On top of that, since his election president Macron spent $40K of public money to add a swimming pool to a place he visits once a year, $300K to replace the carpets in his Palais de l'Elysee, or $500K to replace his dinner set. His out of touch lifestyle is closer to the one Louis XIV used to enjoy than to the one endured by the struggling working class.
93
@Erwan Didn't the French Bourgeois do exactly the same before the revolution started? While French people were starving their rules built the Palace of Versailles. Do we not learn from history?
13
@Erwan not mentioning the fact his parliamentary majority canceled the extension of the tax on financial transactions toward infraday speculative operations. Revenues of this tax are used to partly fund development assistance and general state budget, including energy transition policies. This enlargement was voted in 2017 and already scheduled. It basically consists in a 0.3% levy on the total amount of the transactions, and only concerns companies whose market cap is over €1 billion. Big companies and financial speculators don't need to burn cars to be heard.
Nor he seems even considering getting rid of tax loopholes which allow many companies to avoid paying taxes on oil, even if some (i'm not talking about SMEs) can definitely afford them without getting into financial troubles. This results in a €7-8 billions tax revenues shortfall for the French State (according to Réseau Action Climat, a French NGO, you can check on their website).
This october, he also authorized Total to conduct oil prospectiong operations in the waters off French Guyana, and previously showed support to a big gold mining project in the same region, that would be located near nature reserves.
And of course, he assumes raising taxes on oil would prevent people from overusing their cars ; but in the place I live in, there are no trains nor reliable public transportations... The only solutions he has to offer is to take buses, with polluting diesel engines.
"Ecology" sounds phony in his mouth.
12
@Erwan Can you provide any sources to your claims? I would love to read more on this. Thank you!
1
“We want a better distribution of wealth, salary increases. It’s about the whole baguette, not just the crumbs.”
The above statement, attributed in the article to a spokesman for the demonstrators, summarizes the dilemma ahead for Macron and his government.
But other governments should pay heed because while there is a general sense that some economies are booming, a majority of the voting public doesn’t believe the economy benefits them. Taking it to the streets through both peaceful and violent protests is like a primal scream and governments should take notice.
119
@JT FLORIDA We just saw similar protests by Indian farmers - I am just waiting for Chinese to join in soon.
9
France appears to be yet another example of the epidemic that exists whereby the affluent suburbs and big cities and less well-off rural areas are hopelessly divided. The French people have a right to protest; enacting laws to curb emissions is the right thing to do, but not if there remains a struggle to even make ends meet.
This rich/poor divide was arguably responsible for Brexit (a working class majority voting down multilateralism and inclusiveness over fears of losing their jobs, incomes etc.) and even the rise of Donald Trump.
If rural cities and communities continue to be ostracised, the simmering bitterness will only fester and grow into something more dangerous. I hope Macron can see that this will not work with the current schism in society.
110
@Dave L I totally agree. After three years in France, I was stunned at the chasm between the French elite and those who live in "la France profonde" outside major cities. The former are disdainful and haughty -- much like our New York elite except they wield far more power over compatriots living outside the Paris Region. It was also a nostalgic moment this week to see how male spokesmen for the Yellow Vests wouldn't let their female colleagues get a word in edgewise before the cameras. That, too, is France.
11
@Dave L; if the goal is to make people drive less….
Then give them alternatives to driving.
Let them work at home.
Give them big subsidies to buy electric vehicles.
Give them jobs & subsidized housing in Big Cities so they can move away from rural areas.
Give them high speed trains and/or sleek modern buses to get where they need to go.
Give them alternative fuels, and sources of heat & energy -- solar, wind, nuclear.
How about deporting all illegals, so that CITIZENS can have back the jobs they need? and the welfare state is reduced?
Instead to liberals, it is a control game where you just take things away and tax tax tax to punish people.
They never imagine the day when the worm turns, and the PEOPLE rise up against lefty liberal social controls!
TRUMP 2020!!!!
4
The policies of trickle down economics and austerity brought us Brexit and Trump. They are going to deliver more power on a plate to right and left wingers and extreme nationalist. The endless and uncontrollable greed and graft of the multinational corporations, their boards and owners, are going to destroy the liberal democracies of the west. Climate change will accelerate the process. Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and many more spend a fortune on lobbying to not pay taxes. Then their owners cherry pick causes to donate money to. Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are fixated on space travel. Bill Gates wants to provide toilets to the very poor in Africa and Asia. Putin is obsessed with power and destroying liberal democracies and the EU. If the filthy rich and the cartels were less greedy then the Russian revolution of 1917, the Communist movement, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao and WW2 would not have happened. The multinationals are going to choke on their money and millions of people will die because of this. A tax break for those that don’t need it is bringing down the western civilization and destroying Mother Nature.
Globalization and free trade bring us together in every possible way. What the world needs is more distribution of earned wealth so that people are not left behind. We don’t need robber barons to build libraries and music halls after they are dead. We need progressive taxation that will get these buildings and services build while the ultra rich are still alive.
177
@ELB Who gets to make the decision on much money we should have? You? Some bureaucrat ? Big corporations bad. Big government good. Doesn't make sense.
24
@hillski999 How come it made more sense after wwii when more people prospered? How much money do the rich need at the expense of the rest of the world? Since Regan we've proven 3 times trickle down doesn't work except to drain the world of much needed resources. Keep on fiddling--but in the meantime the rich are takers--not givers--and the epitaph will read accordingly.
29
@hillski999
Big Government serves at the will of, and the benefit of, the people.
Big Corporations serve themselves.
29
Anyone with common sense knows that Macron's tax cuts for the rich were not going to make the economy better for the majority.
Businesses only increase capacity if they have additional customers, not just because they have more cash.
To workers, calls to: "stimulate the economy via tax cuts for the rich", are infuriatingly dishonest.
The problem, is that establishment politicians crush and co-opt legitimate opposition. And that they keep offering the same "solutions" which have been making things worse.
It is probably true that corrupt and inefficient structures may need to go away. But the only way to make that transition in an orderly way, is to first create a workable alternative - higher demand in the economy, to drive up wages, giving workers more options.
The growth of a prosperous middle class in developed nations, was historically associated with demand-side solutions, political representation of workers, less inequalty, and also higher inflation. The opposite approach in the past four decades has resulted in opposite results.
Lack of Demand and excessive inequality are the big economic problems, yet the only solutions governments offer, are more of the same: Austerity and supply side solutions, which tragically exacerbate the global lack of demand, and increase inequality.
5
RE: The French president has until now attempted to sail above the discontent, deploying lofty abstractions in his quest to “invent a new grammar” and determined to pursue his ecological goal of discouraging the French from using cars.
Does Marcon use a car? If so let him lead by example and give it up.
14
@Reader In Wash, DC: that would be like asking Michael Bloomberg or Hillary Clinton or any other lefty politician to give up their armed security details, to prove they REALLY REALLY favor gun control FOR THEMSELVES.
As usual, it is one rule for them -- another for everyone else.
Does Macron take stinky, filthy city buses?
Or is he driven around in a limo like other leaders?
2
I love the comment that it was “only a few cents a gallon”. It’s always only a few cents - in this case 30 cents. People are just tired of the left and the idea that every world problem - climate change, economic disparity, racism - can be solved through bigger government and higher taxes.
23
Just looking at the 2 burned up cars. Everybody's auto insurance goes up now, to cover the loss. Wonder if it is equal to the protested gas tax increase.
3
IMHO, the global carbon tax to punish so-called "polluters" is nothing more than sanctimonious, feel-good imagery and symbolism...another way for government to control and dictate the way we live supposedly for the "greater good"...which means discouraging all practical, pragmatic and efficient efforts for economic growth even with little or no emissions....like hydraulic fracking. In other words, ANYTHING that taps into our natural resources is deemed suspect.
The self-serving hypocrisy here is absolutely mind-boggling!
With that said, the underlying issue really isn't "climate change", per se, but the POLITICS of "climate change" as a means to an end. Again, that "end" being greater control over our lives by the government.
9
@Vcliburn The chemistry of the planet doesn't care about whether or not humans figure out how to save themselves. The life that will become extinct by this occurring change should care, and they should use any tools available, including government, taxes, and politics, to limit the burning of carbon. It may not be your ideal tool to prevent humanity from killing itself off, but it is our ONLY tool. The profit incentive marketplace, which does really well in rationing rare products and services that are not necessary, does really poorly at controlling lethal by-products like planet warming and other undesirable external costs. Tens of thousands of scientists from competing research organizations from around the world, agree that humanity is heading for extinction. It is now too late for cap and trade. Government regulations are our ONLY means to keep from present market forces, by burning carbon, in this case, and destroying our future.
2
@Sarah McIntee: whoa nelly! Climate scientists agree that climate change is real (which I agree is true) but NOT that "humanity is headed for extinction".
We survived the Ice Age; we will survive this. We are very adaptable as a species.
If you were honest....you'd admit what you REALLY care about is not the "environment" (if you DID, you'd be against illegal immigration!) but SOCIAL ENGINEERING.
You want to control "the deplorables" and force us into smelly, dirty city buses and take away our cars.....so we are 100% dependent on lefty liberals in government to control everything we do, think, believe ("or else").
No thank you. You are welcome to this Brave New World, but I want none of it.
5
This article buries the lede--that these protests are over out-of-touch elites responding to climate change by adding about a 30 cent per gallon gasoline tax and taxing other energy sources that regular working people rely on to be productive and do their jobs. Out of touch rich elites living in cities think it's no big deal to add "just a couple of cents" to the cost of gasoline--how would you feel if Trump levied a 30 cent per gallon tax? Elites get to feel self-righteous and good about themselves without having to make the real sacrifices that their policies require of others.
42
@Reader: it is also easy for ELITES in big blue cities -- which are so dense, you can easily get along on public transit (or cabs or Ubers) without owning a car -- to think "people do not need cars" or "why not tax gasoline to FORCE everyone to live like me?"
Except most of us cannot afford to live in very, very expensive cities like Paris or NYC....unless it is as a homeless person sleeping on a bench.
3
Great... More reactionary populist backlash to progress.
The Yellow Vests are the French equivalent of the USA Tea Party. Their solutions: More drilling for oil, more coal, more pollution, more environmental degradation ... Just so long as they don't have to pay a few extra Francs or Dollars in tax.
People in developed countries are so spoiled and are ignorant of just how good they have it. Poor babies have to work hard to afford all the great luxuries of the 21st century.
A tour of the abodes of even the poorest of the working class will reveal a quality of life and abundance unheard of 50 years ago. The average working stiff in 1968 worked just as hard and didn't have a supercomputer in their pocket, a super high def big screen color TV at home, or a car with airbags and all the other bells and whistles that also doesn't need regular tune ups or repairs.
But God forbid we have to shell out a few extra dollars in tax.
4
@Celeste You are wrong. The Yellow Vests are NOT the Tea Party. First, it is a huge movement made up of people from across the political spectrum. What unites the protesters is anger at the decreasing quality of life in France : stagnating / low wages, high taxes (especially regressive taxes like VAT and fuel taxes that hit the poor hardest), declining public services. People have been struggling for years, and the proposed fuel tax increases were the straw that broke the camel's back. The French already pay high taxes and aren't opposed to taxes per se. They know that taxes pay for public services. But it's plain for all to see: taxes are up, services are down, and Macron's fiscal policy favors the rich. This has NOTHING to do with the environment. I talk to people, listen to the news and over and over again people say they support efforts to transition to a green economy. But you can't do that on the backs of people who can't afford it. After the Prime Minister's announcement today, the secretary of the French Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, stated things clearly: The rich should pay more taxes, the poor should pay less. That's logical and that's what people want. Today the rich are doing well and the poor are stuck with the bill. And for those in the U.S. who may think Macron is "progressive", check out this article by the esteemed economist Thomas Piketty:
https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2017/12/09/thomas-piketty-trump-macron-meme-combat_5227020_3232.html
18
The following comment in the article is telling: “This anger is rooted in a profound injustice, that of not being able to live decently from the fruits of its work, of not being able to provide for the needs of its children.” There is a lot of discussion in the media about Climate Change and Immigration, but not on the impacts these issues have on the local people. For example, we can reduce the impact on Climate Change by going to renewable energy. However, this is not inexpensive it will increase the cost of energy in the developed world (i.e., renewable energy is more expensive than fossil fuel energy & there is a direct relationship between energy & the wealth of a nation). Also, open borders is charitable for refugees. However, there is considerable cost to the country that has open borders. (1) it reduces wages of blue collar workers, and (2) increases cost of public services (i.e., schools, police, social services) for tax paying citizens and legal residences. It appears to me that we need balance when we address these complex issues and not just politically correct statements.
20
This generation will have to feel some pain in order to sustain a habitable planet for our kids, grandkids, and future generations.
This is an individual choice, based on knowledge and one’s own sense of survival (short-term personal or long-term for all life on our little planet.)
This is going to take sacrifice, hardship, grit.
But WE CAN do this if we set our minds to it.
3
@Dorothy
The problem in this case is that the pain is being heaped on the poor and people who are just getting by. Green policies that ignore social justice aren't just morally dubious; they're not even good politics.
15
It appears the protestors have legitimate grievances and actually are refraining from destructive protests that would shut down everyday life.
Macron simply must address the nation and fully explain the problems with French financial problems. He must announce that he has established government plans to work with all elements of French society and get out from behind his wall of
Silence.
15
Leaders have bought into trickle down economics and austerity budgets for years. We need to curb the use of fossil fuels, but after putting a lot of people on their knees, we cannot expect them to pay the bill for curbing climate change.
36
This is not a unique French problem. This should happen in many other countries (including Japan). It is only that the French are more conscious.
65
The French government imposes a carbon tax and the common people protest in the streets. When will the Democrats realize that a US carbon tax hurts the poor?
10
@Donna Gray - the comparison of the price of auto fuel in France and the US is so extreme, it's an apples-to-oranges comparison. A gallon of gas in Paris is about US$7. For decades, our federal government avoided making the choice to appropriately tax fuel to pay for its true production cost, plus the cost of vehicle infrastructure. These choices have been left to the states which has resulted in auto inefficiency and greater air pollution.
6
Macron is setting the stage for a Nationist like Trump to take over unless he backs down and changes course.
Except for the violence I'm totally behind the protestors in France. People are sick and tired of living from paycheck to paycheck while everything goes to the wealthy.
59
@Debbie
Marine Le Pen is waiting for her chance.
8
French President Emmanuel Macron's myopia in imposing a regressive tax is reminiscent of the out-of-touch and soon out-of-office behavior of the late George H. W. Bush as well as his "no new taxes" flub. Macron's elitist ignorance of the plight of France's lower- and middle-classes shows that he, too, may have just reached his political expiration date. Mr. Macron would do well to revisit the middle word in France's national motto--"Equalite"--and consider cancelling the gas tax and replacing it with a luxury tax on those who can afford to pay.
36
This is proof that not everyone is on board with economic penalties to curb climate change. I am proud of the French for rebelling as they did. The entire world should be proud of them. People do not need to be bullied by elites extorting their hard earned money over this issue. The elites need to get together with their so-called scientists and figure out a solution to this climate problem. In fact, if the elites and the scientists are so smart why didn't foresee this "problem" before it became an issue. It was on the public's radar in the 1970s. Remember the first Earth Day in 1970? If it was such a big deal then why wasn't significant action been taken? Instead people like Al Gore capitalized off it and trivialized it. Join the French and rebel! Vive la France!
24
@Southern Boy
US taxes are not comparable to French taxes on gasoline. The French are already amongst the greenest in Europe where carbon is concerned, much less compared to the US. The entire world could do with a US that consumes less oil. That would mean less CO2, fewer wars, and better leaders.
So this isn't about a carbon tax, nor you, thin skin, or tiny hands.
17
@Andy,
Thank you, I take back my support for the French. Just from the picture with the article, I can see some gas-guzzling autos, and they do not like small economy cars, but big cars for pampered elites. I remember seeing big Benz's on the streets of Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Lausanne, Vienna, and Lyon in the times I have visited Europe. So until the Europeans stop driving gas guzzlers themselves don't complain about America's consumption of gasoline. America First! Thank you.
8
Why hasn't significant action been taken? Well, it would require we end our dependence on fossil fuel, which the oil and coal lobby don't like. It would require we eat a lot less meat, which Americans are loathe to do. It would require we end our ravenous consumption culture. And none of that gets pursued, because there are people like you who will always doubt the truth, no matter how evidence is shown to you. In the same way you support Trump as he tears the nation apart, so too do you support the disbelief in climate change even as its effects are becoming manifest in the California wildfires, this year's catastrophic hurricanes, and Latin American droughts
7
You want to impose carbon tax ? This is what you will get with carbon tax.
BTW, US already has carbon tax, it's the fuel tax you pay at the pump. Since the tax is on hydrocarbon based liquid fuel, it's actually a carbon tax.
10
More taxes on gas there in France?
So sorry Macron -- not a chance!
Your countrymen feel
that when at the wheel
there's no room for further finance.
9
At last, this is the very least they could come up with hence the government is falling short of coming across as too generous.
Meanwhile, these are no longer times for half-measures of last resort, of drip-feeding softball answers to stifle a crisis of such magnitude and seen by many still on the uptick.
Implement a moratorium on price-increase for 6 months and then what? Stick to the agenda with everything returning to the state where it was left off meaning taxes will go up, same for the price points on fuels and electricity and a similar fate awaiting the legion of basic services... Quite unsure, in light of what has happened recently that such hard-won small victories by the yellow-vest movement (and if we can actually call those "victories") for these show no real sign of retro-pedaling on the government' side), will yet suffice to dampen boiling anger and frustration.
4
Fuel taxes will have to increase across the world if we are to have any hope of averting worst-case scenarios for climate change, and it's clear that many deniers have tethered themselves to the Yellow Jackets. But this fiasco also shows the value of a system that returns much of the money collected via a fue tax:tax carbon and redistribute some of the proceeds.
5
@Ben Lieberman, taxes do not have to increase, and should not, especially regressive taxes that primarily affect those at the bottom of the economic ladder. How about a tax on those ridiculous SUVs so beloved of suburban drivers?
41
@Ben Lieberman
The sun is entering a 350 year period of lower temperatures. Without greenhouse gases to offset it might have resulted in a 'mini ice age'. You make statements that are not shared by all who study this issue. Electric vehicles and alternatives fuels will solve the carbon problem eventually. Taxing people now who cannot afford it is not the answer. It is just a way to impose regressive taxes on an already overburdened population. The rush to do so appears more calculated to get people used to paying taxes on their fuels and vehicles, so when we are all using electric we won't notice when those taxes haven't gone away.
10
@Ben Lieberman fuel taxes hurt primarily the poor. Read the stories about why this is the straw that has broken the camel's back for people can not even be said to be living from paycheck to paycheck. It is rather that their paychecks are not sufficient to cover life's basic necessities, even though people are working. Yes climate change is an emergency but the solution has to be found elsewhere than making the poor pay for it.
5
As if this will stop the protestors! They are completely missing the point!
9
@Michele
France is smart to do so; this will solve the matter of the protests. I believe Macron's "point" is to quell protests and not to address all the socio-economic matters beleaguering France in one fell swoop.
3
Incroyable. Everyone knows French governments don't surrender!
7
"The projected gas tax increase was equivalent to only a few cents a gallon,..."
Google search: "French President Emmanuel Macron, as part of his many economic reforms, announced the gas taxes earlier this year to minimize France's reliance on fossil fuels. The tax will increase the price of fuel by about 30 cents per gallon and will continue to rise over the next few years, the French government says."
That is not a "few cents a gallon."
118
@Erik, people who favor these kinds of tax increases always describe them as “a few cents more” or “a modest increase”. People have had enough.
19
30 cents isn't a "few cents"? Maybe people who can make that distinction with a straight face shouldn't be allowed to influence national climate policy.
9
@Cassandra A few cents sounds like five cents, not 30 cents. And the 30 cents will increase every year. And that's on top of the almost $7.00/gallon the French already pay.
Only non-car owning urban dwellers, and the wealthy elite (lots of Benz's in France) don't mind paying this.
14
Maybe time for Macron to practice some “France First” nationalism instead of strutting around the globe attacking Trump.
30
@RS Macron practice France first but for the french wealthy, furthermore, despite the fact he worked in the Anglo-Saxon word, he has 20 years of delay about his economy ideas.
9
During WW II there was fear on the part of the Allies that during their retaking of France that Petainists, Gaullists and Communists would start to fight each other in the middle of a given battle against Axis powers. The French remain seriously politically fractured, sadly.
4
Fuel tax increase was just a trigger to shoot down the larger scheme of economic reforms that the French President Emanuel Macron had embarked upon. With fuel tax relief concession there's possibility that there will be political pressure to derail the economic reform agenda which will be disastrous to the French economy. In fact, the whole Yellow Vest rebellion against Macron though seemingly sudden and sporadic fuelled by the social media yet well orchestrated and further inflamed by the extreme forces of both the left and the right of the political spectrum waiting in the wings to destabilise the liberal and pragmatic Macron ruling dispensation.
4
@Prof. Jai Prakash Sharma, please, who can support the Macron reform, which are only Thatcherism with 20 years of delay, look at the adivers of macron, only the old France.
9
Who says you can't have your cake and eat it?
1
I’m surprised they didn’t storm the Bastille. So, they do battle with the police, as if the police were immune from the gasoline tax.
2
Again a French government and a strong and engaged leader withdraws important decisions to make the country more competitive and to fight against climate change- France has got a long tradition of anarchy and protest against every necessary change and too little readyness to accept uncomfortable political decisions - it is sad that Macron now backs away - that is the way to the next populistic-driven country in Europe.
6
I am so sick of this old cliche that the french complain and protest about everything. Isn't it possible we have legitimate gripes this time?
47
@Christof
Explain how taxing already overtaxed workers makes the country more competitive? Sure, it can be argued it is an effort to fight climate change. Not a very good argument but certainly an argument. But how can you even begin to say it makes them 'more competitive' to pay an extra 30 cents a gallon on top of what they already pay?
16
@Christof your analysis is incorrect because the surest way to ensure a populist leader is by ignoring people's complaints, which in this case happen to be legitimate.
7
Probably too little, too late. Macron's immense arrogance, cynically passing off the increase as a "green initiative" has lit the fuse on the powder keg. His promises to the French have been hollow, except to the most well off with whom he identifies. Everyone else is riff raff as far as he's concerned, and he hasn't been shy in saying it.
In short, Macron is a political amateur who lacks the instincts to lead, and only managed to squeeze through with vague and empty promises made in a vaccum. His autocratic style directly created the yellow jacket movement, I doubt they'll be satisfied with this minor step. Even though there is no defined path other than resignation, I won't be surprised if the "gilets jaunes" cause him to fall. His wealthy Parisian constituency won't stand for rabble rousers frightening the domestic staff out shopping for champagne and caviar over the holiday season.
71
@Andy Macron is hardly immensely arrogant, and these demonstrations are hardly likely to lead to his resignation.
As for his promises to the French or people living in France, I, for one, have welcomed his deregulation of intercity bus travel, which earned him considerable mockery when he was a minister in the previous government.
3
@Luder, presumably you aren't someone who has seen his taxes raised or his city services curtailed or the schools impoverished. And maybe you actually believed Macron's lie that lowering the taxes on the rich would benefit everyone.
24
Macron is not fighting climate change with this measure. France has close to if not the best carbon footprint of all the wealthy nations. France already has extremely high gasoline taxes representing close to 85% of the price of around $7/gallon. 30 cents a gallon more won't change a thing, because car drivers don't drive for pleasure, they drive because they have to get to work, or go shopping miles away from home.
Macron's argument is cynical deflection. He simply wants to tax the poor to pay for tax cuts to the rich, and so he called it a green tax. Of course as planned, many here have fallen for the greenwashing as designed : see the political expression popularly attributed to Lenin, "Useful idiot"
4