The mob has won this round
France to announce delay on fuel tax hike after violent riots: report https://t.co/8gvhxFDYuM pic.twitter.com/NiuN8IJaCl
— New York Post (@nypost) December 4, 2018
From the link
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced a suspension of fuel tax and utility hikes in an effort to appease a protest movement that plunged Paris into chaos last weekend.
Philippe said the planned increase, which has provoked violent riots and was set to be introduced in January, will be suspended for six months.
Philippe said “no tax is worth putting the nation’s unity in danger.â€
It’s interesting that French President Macron wasn’t making the announcement, I guess he’s being petulant about it, as he had, in essence, stated that he would never back down.
The protesters are saying that this is not enough: they want the tax increase to be permanently cancelled, and they aren’t buying into this 6 month suspension, which they see as a means to get the protests to end.
Reports: In a Bid to Halt Violent Protests, France Will Delay Fuel Tax Hikes
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is to announce a suspension of fuel tax hikes, a major U-turn in an effort to appease a protest movement that has radicalized, French media reported Tuesday.
Both Le Monde newspaper and France Info radio said the planned increase, which has provoked riots, will be suspended for several months. Philippe is also expected to announce other measures aimed at easing tensions, just three weeks after claiming that the government would not change course and remained determined to help wean French consumers off polluting fossils fuels.
Philippe will make an announcement later Tuesday to legislators from President Emmanuel Macron’s party. There was no immediate comment from his office Tuesday morning.
It’s unlikely Philippe’s announcement will put an end to the road blockades and demonstrations, with more possible protests this weekend in Paris.
“It’s a first step, but we will not settle for a crumb,†said Benjamin Cauchy, one of the leaders of the protests.
It’s a shame that it has come to the violence and property destruction, especially since so many of these same people were Big Believers in Doing Something about ‘climate change’. Like most, they probably figured that Someone Else would pay, much like with all the other far left policies that cause their cost of living to artificially rise.
Those people weren’t rioting for a delay.
“Delay”. Sure. The elite ruling left will never give up on their dreams to tax the people into submission.
They already pay 60% of the price of gas in taxes. That’s an outrageous money and power grab. Riot on, French people.
All of the European countries have historically had high gasoline taxes. They have done this since WW2 since none of them are big producers of oil so importing gasoline is a huge drain on their balance of trade. Under the old Gold Standard, if they didn’t do something to force their people to buy less gasoline (and other imported goods), they would quickly have been bankrupted and had no cash reserves of foreign currencies to buy anything else that they needed for post-war reconstruction and essential goods. America never needed to do this because until the 70’s, we were an oil exporter. After the 70’s, the gold standard and balance of trade became meaningless.
What magical thing is supposed to happen within the next 6 months that will make this tax suddenly acceptable? Looks like they are just hoping that the mobs cannot sustain their anger over that long and will just accept the new normal.
I don’t think that the rabble are going to buy it this time. Macron is going to have to do better than a vague “delay” of a few months.