The Business World

What is this “écotaxe”? It is an environmental tax that is targeting all vehicles heavier than 3.5 tons. The general aim of such tax is to decrease the pollution generated on the roads of France and at the same time create the incentive for truck drivers to get more environmentally-friendly trucks. With the revenues generated by the tax the Government will invest in the projects that were voted at the Grenelle Environnement, an open debate that brings representatives of different industries to define public policies on environment and sustainability, that happened in 2007.

This tax, to start as of January 1st 2014, is supposed to raise up to 750millions of euros per year in revenues might be completely suspended due to the protests happening in different parts of France such as Brittany. So here is the question I ask you readers: Can a Government say no to such revenues which would be used to boost the country’s development especially in such financial times?

In my opinion the Government shouldn’t stop this tax as it will raise a lot of revenues, revenues needed for the growth of France and its objective to become a more sustainable economy. And I do not approve with the Government’s decision to suspend the tax all because of farmers protesting as they think they will be the ones hit by the additional transporting costs when they aren’t actually the ones who get hit the most, customers will suffer the most because the cost of the tax will be added on to the price of the product. Therefore they aren’t really the ones who should protest for this tax to be completely scrapped.

Sources: http://www.euronews.com/2013/11/10/france-fresh-protests-in-brittany-against-eco-tax/

http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/Qu-est-ce-que-l-ecotaxe-poids.html

http://www.lejdd.fr/Economie/Combien-coute-la-suspension-de-l-ecotaxe-636353