21

Energy and carbon taxes face a lack of acceptance from taxpayers in France. This paper provides a general view of the problem: indirect Pigovian taxes are very new and unpopular worldwide, the distributional effects are too heavy on “energy prisoners”, and there has been a lack of governance in using carbon revenues. States must nevertheless choose the extent to which they target energy sobriety and implement exemptions for businesses, and how they use new revenues. Finally, the most important condition for acceptability is not the taxes themselves but developing alternatives to carbon.