Conclusion

A study of the main environmental taxes shows that there is no coherent environmental tax policy based on a single model. This is primarily due to the fact that environmental taxation has been grafted onto the existing fiscal tax system. It seemed simpler to green either taxes that were essentially excise taxes (taxes on a specific product, e.g. TICPE) or similar to excise taxes (e.g. water charges), or to green taxes targeting a specific activity (e.g. TEOM). In a way, legislators have "recycled" the existing system by adapting it to new challenges.

A second reason for the lack of unity in France's environmental tax system is that environmental policy has developed gradually, under the impetus of the European Union and the successive directives it has adopted in specific areas (energy, waste, toxic substances, etc.). French legislators have designed environmental...