The interest is to get a foot in the door

The carbon tax will be implemented next year, but a more modest than that advocated by environmentalists and the Rocard commission level. This is, in any case, the goal defended by the Executive, a few weeks of the submission of the Bill of finance 2010 and four months of the international climate negotiations in Copenhagen. Yesterday, Eric Woerth, Minister of the Budget, and Chantal Jouanno, in charge of ecology, confirmed that the price of 32 euros, defended by the commission Rocard, was "too high".Yet, this level was the subject of a broad consensus among experts, being deemed sufficient to knock spirits and indispensable to avoid rapid climate warming. But the risk of unpopularity is strong: for households, this award would imply an additional tax of more than 4 billion euros next year, or for example an increase of 7 or 8 cents per litre of fuel. Yesterday, the Secretary of State for ecology has therefore indicated, on BFM, that the Government was working on a starting price of "between 14 and 20 euros.The Rocard commission wished that the prices grow every year to reach 100 in 2030. "The interest is to get a foot in the door." "It is better to a low price, and little offsets, a high price and multiple derogations", summarizes a specialist of the record.

The price should be, in the end, very close to 15 euros next year, confirm several government sources. A meeting was held yesterday evening at Matignon to specify cursors. This level, which will be refined in the coming weeks, owes nothing to chance: it corresponds to the price which is charged per ton of CO on the European market of quotas, for industries the most energy-intensive (iron and steel, cement, glass, etc.). Set at 15 euros per tonne, the carbon tax yield approximately EUR 4 billion to the State, of which slightly more than 51 paid by households. Price of gasoline increase, then, in a range between 3 and 4 eurocents. "At this level, it will obviously not change attitudes." "This may create doubt as to the objective" indicates a head of the Hulot Foundation.

A decrease in charges

The compensation promised to the households are, they still debate. Finished the dreams of "green check" intended by the associations to help households to adapt, the negotiations on the future mechanism of redistribution have become very technical. The idea that the more advantaged households, beyond the fourth instalment of tax (greater than 25.926 euros compensation), will be not supported appears to be acquired. A way to leave a portion of the tax benefit to Bercy. For the rest, some to the Ministry of ecology propose to increase the minimum old-age, unemployment, lower part of the social contributions by employees by targeting the working poor and those living away from home. Others believe that should take the time to consolidate mechanisms offered assistance to the tank, affected 1 million households, that allows to buy each year of the fuel, but does nothing to help households change boiler. Bercy, on the other hand, argues for a decline in payroll, which would involve an almost immediate increase in the number of jobs.