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A4 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2018 OPINION editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher JIM VAN NOSTRAND Editor Founded in 1873 JEREMY FELDMAN Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production Manager CARL EARL Systems Manager PRO-CON Is France’s rollback of carbon taxes a major setback for environmentalists? AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu A demonstrator stands at a burning makeshift barricade on the famed Champs Elysees in Paris, France. Thousands gathered in the capital and staged road blockades across the nation to vent anger against rising fuel taxes and Emmanuel Macron’s presidency. PRO: Push people too far and we may see Paris-like riots D ALLAS — The recent French year to 55.22 cents per gallon, the sec- demonstrations against President ond-highest in the country. Emmanuel Macron’s gasoline Instead of rioting like the French, Cal- tax increase may have been the fi rst such ifornians forced a statewide tax-repeal uprising, but it probably won’t be the last vote last month. The effort failed, with 45 — in France or elsewhere. percent voting to repeal, but then gasoline Hundreds of thousands of French isn’t $7 a gallon in California — yet. working-class demonstrators took to But larger battles may be coming. the streets of Paris and other parts of For example, socialist and Rep.- the country to protest Macron’s 25-cent elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., per gallon gas tax increase, with more recently told an audience, it’s “inevitable increases to follow. The revenue would that we can use the transition to 100 per- supposedly be used to fi ght climate cent renewable energy as the vehi- change. cle to truly deliver and establish It’s not like gasoline in France economic, social and racial jus- is cheap. The average price of tice in the United States of Amer- gas is about $7 a gallon, accord- ica. That is our proposal and that is ing to the Associated Press, when what we are here to do.” adjusted for the European use The federal government cur- MERRILL of liters. That’s $140 to fi ll up a rently imposes its own tax on gas- MATTHEWS 20-gallon tank. Ouch! oline: 18.4 cents per gallon. Small And that’s in a country where croissants compared to France. the average income is about two- But the federal gasoline tax thirds that of America’s. hasn’t been raised in 25 years and has lost Macron didn’t care because he, like 64 percent of its purchasing power. Look many progressives, wants to be seen as a for progressives to seek a signifi cant leader in the fi ght against climate change, increase in the near future. regardless of how much that legacy costs In addition, members of Congress the working class. recently introduced a bipartisan tax on But it turns out his French constituents carbon emissions, like Australia’s, that do care — a lot. would force fossil fuel-producing com- Macron was stunned by the size and panies to pay $15 for each ton of carbon determination of the spontaneous revolt. their products emit. The tax would rise by After insisting he wouldn’t cave on the $10 per ton every subsequent year. gas tax, he did, and he is now promising Those two proposals would make driv- even more concessions. ing a car or turning on the lights a lot France may be the most disruptive, but more expensive, especially for lower- and it isn’t the fi rst populist pushback. fi xed-income families. Australia became the fi rst country to Ironically, gasoline and carbon taxes repeal its tax on carbon emissions. That’s are very regressive because everyone, where the government imposes a tax regardless of income, pays the same price. on each ton of carbon released into the Yet progressives support them anyway. atmosphere. Imposing carbon and gasoline taxes Even though it was considered model is not about ways to pay for needed gov- legislation, the Aussies didn’t want it and ernment services. It’s about progressives, the Senate repealed it in 2014 — after like Macron, trying to fund their climate only two years. Prime Minister Tony change agenda. Abbott called the tax “a useless destruc- The lesson from France is that work- tive tax which damaged jobs, which hurt ing-class voters have a limit. Push people families’ cost of living and which didn’t too far and we may see Paris-like riots in actually help the environment.” our own backyards. Sounds like the French demonstrators. Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar Closer to home, California raised with the Institute for Policy Innovation in the state’s gasoline tax by 12 cents last Dallas. CON: Carbon taxes must address needs of ordinary people G REEN BAY, Wis. — In early to reduce energy consumption and promote December, large-scale street pro- alternative energy sources. They also are tests forced the French government strongly favored by economists and many to roll back its newly imposed fuel taxes. policy makers as more effi cient than other The French president later vowed to lower governance tools. other taxes as well and to increase wages. In contrast to what has been done else- The protesters won a six-month reprieve on where, the French fuel taxes were both the taxes, which may or may not return. poorly designed and carelessly imposed. The unexpected intensity of public reac- For example, only about one-fourth of tion in France raises the question of whether the new tax revenue was directed at envi- any form of carbon tax is now politically ronmental actions that might compen- feasible. It is, but whether the public views sate for climate change, such as investing carbon taxes as acceptable depends in alternative energy technologies largely on how they are designed and or subsidizing energy effi ciency and presented. conservation. Some background is helpful. The Moreover, gas prices in France French decision came during the already were very high compared same week that the latest U.N. con- to the U.S. The additional tax of 25 cents per gallon was simply too much ference on climate change began in MICHAEL E. for many working families, and they Poland. At that meeting, delegates were angry. KRAFT strongly urged nations to accelerate The French experience nonethe- their efforts to reduce carbon emis- less can help to inform what other sions as new scientifi c studies under- nations, and states, choose to do to combat scored potentially catastrophic effects of a climate change, and especially for how best rapidly changing climate. to design carbon taxes to make them more The latest U.S. study, the 1,600-page attractive. National Climate Assessment, written by For example, one of the most widely dis- more than 300 federal agency scientists and cussed proposals in the U.S. is a carbon fee released just the week before, argued that and dividend system proposed by the Citi- we must act aggressively to deal with “sub- zens Climate Lobby, and embraced by pol- stantial damages to the U.S. economy, envi- icy makers from both political parties. The ronment, and human health and well-be- fee imposed on carbon sources such as gas- ing,” that can be expected over the coming oline would be fully and directly rebated to decades. citizens on a regular basis. There is little reason to be complacent. Alternatively, other taxes could be Other scientifi c reports in the past several reduced proportionately so that there is no weeks indicate that global emissions of car- net increase in taxes. bon dioxide, largely generated by use of Or, as California chose to do with its new fossil fuels, are expected to continue rising 12-cent gas tax, the revenue could be ded- this year by about 2.7 percent — 2.5 percent icated to popular projects such as repairing in the U.S — driven by strong economic highways, bridges and other infrastructure. growth in the U.S., China and India. Polls show that most Americans favor One inescapable conclusion is that nei- action to mitigate climate change, which ther the United States nor most of the world they see increasingly as a real threat to is on a sustainable path in energy use, and their well-being, the economy and the time is running out to change direction. environment. While many different policy actions can A well-designed carbon tax is an import- help to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, there ant tool to that end, but to be broadly accept- is no doubt that carbon taxes have a major able it must visibly and genuinely address role to play. the needs and concerns of ordinary people. France simply got it wrong and its yel- Michael E. Kraft is professor emeritus of low vest protests refl ected that. political science and environmental affairs Carbon taxes are widely and success- fully used in Europe and many other nations at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay.
