Green taxes ‘will not stop people buying in France’

Published 17th Apr 2007

Plans by the Conservative Party to bring in new ‘green’ taxes for people who fly frequently are unlikely to deter people from buying a property in France, according to a poll carried out by FrenchEntrée.com.

According to our online survey, six out of ten people said that the Tory proposals – designed to help control carbon emissions – would make no difference at all to their plan to buy in France.

One of the ideas floated by the party is for a ‘green air miles allowance’ under which people get taxed more the more they fly.

According to this proposal, passengers would be ‘allowed’ to take a single, short-haul flight per year, but additional journeys would attract progressively higher taxes.

Undermine policy

Another suggestion is to replace air passenger duty with a ‘per flight’ tax based on carbon emissions.

This of course means that many Britons who have bought or are planning to buy a house in France could see their travel bills rise significantly.

However, though a majority of FrenchEntrée readers say the Tory tax hike would make no difference at all to their plans, a quarter admitted that it would alter their thinking.

Of these, nearly 18 per cent said the new air taxes would make them more likely to buy a home they could visit by car.

This would of course undermine the stated aim of the tax proposals which is to reduce overall carbon emissions.

According to French environment bodies the Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie and the Institut Francais de l'Environnement, short-haul flights typically emit 180 grammes of carbon per passenger/kilometre, while cars produce on average 111g. The figure for trains is just 5.7g.

However, our survey found that fewer than one in ten people – 8.4 per cent – would adjust their plans to buy somewhere they could reach by the environmentally friendlier – but often more expensive – train.


We asked:

The Conservatives are proposing green taxes that would punish frequent fliers.
Would this make you:
a) Less likely to buy a house in France at all (12.8 per cent)
b) More likely to buy a French property you can reach by train (8.54 per cent)
c) More likely to buy a French property you can reach by car (17.9 per cent)
d) Not make any difference to your plans (60.68 per cent)

Source: ' FrenchEntrée '

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