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The yellow vest protests could be a sign of how this idea might fail, isn't it? The fuel tax increase was not accepted by the working class.
by Miner49er 6y ago
The yellow vest protests could be a sign of how this idea might fail, isn't it? The fuel tax increase was not accepted by the working class.
- nradov 6y agoAny carbon emissions taxes would have to be phased in very gradually in order to give people enough time to adjust, such as by purchasing electric vehicles. Otherwise it will be impossible to maintain political support.
- mantas 6y agoTruly universal CO2 tax would be OK with yellow vests. Now the problem is that CO2 for cheap gasoline cars is taxed a lot. While CO2 for airplane fuel for better off to go on holidays is not. And they get tax credits to buy nice electric cars. Regressive taxation at it's best.
- everybodyknows 6y agoIf you can quantify, roughly, such tax differences, you'll have the core of an unassailable argument.
- selectodude 6y agoWell, here in Illinois, a gallon of diesel fuel is 85 cents per gallon. An international flight to Hong Kong will take a little over 40,000 gallons (but is tax exempt), so 34000 dollars worth of taxes are not paid per flight.
- p_l 6y agoJet fuel isn't tax exempt - there are both federal and state taxes to be paid on it
- selectodude 6y agoInternational fuel is tax exempt.
- p_l 6y agoI can find no data on that, and transoceanic flight have to fuel up at takeoff airport thus can't exploit lower taxes at home hub (commonly done with shorter range flights).
- selectodude 6y agoYou don't need data, it simply is exempt and has been since 1947. I used to fuel commercial flights in a previous and much better life. International jets used a special ticket that said INTL EXEMPT on them.
- uncoder0 6y agoNot meant to refute the GP argument but, in the US at the federal level the AvGas tax per gallon and gasoline tax per gallon are about the same ~ $0.19. This is probably one of those areas where subsidies and such obfuscate the reality.
- rmah 6y agoI don't know about France, per se, but in most western nations, gasoline/petrol used by farmers is not taxed (or taxed much less) vs the same fuel used by industry or regular people. I suspect france was the same. The yellow vest protestors mostly originated from rural areas. It was, IMO, yet another example of the growing urban/rural divide.
- astrobe_ 6y agoYellow vest started with this, but is not just this. The subject was the tip of an iceberg, this iceberg being that a whole working class barely makes a living. France is a welfare state, but we still have 10%-15% of people hit by poverty. How is it acceptable in one of the leading economies of EU, and how is it freaking possible we still have this have this problem in the twenty-first century? I only skimmed TFA, but it seems that it talk about this. Environment and social issues. IMHO new statics won't change a thing. Political leaders are already aware of this.