Tuesday, December 29, 2009

France's carbon tax ruled unconstitutional

The Constitutional Council of France has ruled that France's planned carbon tax is unconstitutional. Like the cap-and-tax proposals in the US Congress, the French law exempted the biggest polluters from the tax. (An impressive 93% of CO2 emissions were exempt.) The Council determined that these exemptions (a) "[ran] counter to the aim of fighting climate change" and (b) created "inequalities" that were unfair to those who did pay the tax. This apparently violates a some French efficacy and fairness requirements, making the tax unconstitutional.

One wonders what would happen to US laws if they were subjected to similar constitutional requirements.

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