French Endorse Sarkozy’s Scrapping of Carbon Tax: Public Poll

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was right to scrap a planned tax on carbon emissions, according to the majority of people in an Ipsos option poll, reports Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

The poll released yesterday found 69 percent of those surveyed endorsed Sarkozy’s decision, while 21 percent said it was wrong. 948 people were surveyed on March 26 or 27 and no margin of error was given.

Prime Minister Francois Fillon told members of parliament of the Union for a Popular Movement on March 23 that any carbon tax should be imposed throughout the European Union to be effective.

A first version of the carbon tax was rejected in December by France’s constitutional court. It ruled that the tax penalized households too heavily and excluded many industrial polluters. The Medef business lobby had campaigned against it.