Extra carbon tax cost per household as a share of income in France 2020, by decile

In France, the 2018 finance law provided that the carbon tax would increase from 44.6 to 55 euros per ton of CO2 in 2020. However, this increase was frozen following the Yellow Vests movement, the issue of carbon taxation being one of their core concerns. The increase in this tax, implemented in 2014 to limit gas emissions responsible for climate change, would have had a proportionally higher impact among the most modest households than among the wealthiest. Indeed, the differences in impact between living standards are significant, in particular, the first decile is largely more affected than the others.

The impact of this tax is one and a half times greater than the average impact on the population (0.2 percent of disposable income), and 2.6 times greater than the impact on the richest ten percent. The carbon component is integrated into energy taxes, based on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by a product. Expressed in euros per ton of CO2, it is paid by individuals and companies, and integrated into the final price of gasoline, diesel, fuel oil or natural gas. It is also subject to value added tax.