French Current Events

European countries have been taking steps to limit greenhouse gasses in order to slow down climate change, and as such, French president Emmanuel Macron enacted a gasoline tax. This sparked an intense wave of protests that gripped the attention of the west. At the core of the protestors are the working people who commute long distances to the cities of France, many of them cannot afford to live in the city due to small wages. As a result of the rioting, president Macron canceled the gas tax and made many concessions to the working people, yet, the riots continue.
Imposing a gas tax on the low wage earning workers may not be the best way to combat climate change in terms of economics. The riots show that the working people in France are already dealing with many difficulties economically. Macron cancelling the gas tax has not had the impact he hoped, the riots continue, even taking some lives.  

In my view, Macron would be much better off imposing a tax on large industrial companies, or revamping the way greenhouse taxes are levied. Corporations are often more responsible for greenhouse gas emissions than the overall populace, and taxing non-renewable energy would help disincentivize use of such polluting energies. The problems with this are twofold, however. Firstly, it would impact the ability of said corporations to hire employees, worsening the already intense state of unemployment in the nation, and secondly, France already does this. So then what can be done? In classic Julian fashion, we look to Finland. Finland has a system of traffic fines that is proportional to income. The less money you make, the less you pay, disincentivizing the breaking of traffic laws while only taking high sums of money from the rich. The proportions could then be altered, taking a small but not quite trivial sum from those with low income who require cars and taking more from those who could afford alternatives to travel. In addition, there could be an exemption, allowing those who must commute long distances to their jobs to pay a reduced version of or not pay the tax.

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