New' Eco Tax' in France

[Sawyer]

I received yesterday, to my great irritation, a letter informing me of a new 'eco tax' being imposed on furniture - to cover the cost of recycling. As a maker of bespoke handmade quality furniture, mostly in locally grown hardwood from sustainable sources, I am reasonably hopeful that managers of landfill sites and recycling concerns, will not have to trouble themselves too much, with discarded examples of my furniture during the rest of the 21st century.

Meanwhile, the greatest threat to the livelihood of small artisan cabinet makers, is cheap, mostly imported, junk furniture, much of which ends up on landfill sites within a few years and includes many non-recyclable materials.

In effect, small scale makers of durable furniture, built to last lifetimes, are now being taxed to subsidise the activities of big businesses, who flood the market with the sort of disposable junk, which generally needs to be recycled in the foreseeable future.

We are not amused. :x

 

[tekno.mage]

That's dreadful - and hardly encourages sustainability.

Handmade, quality, furniture is the most sustainable and "eco-friendly" as it is tends to be handed down through families or sold on when no longer required, not taken to the local tip.

Just confirms my thoughts that a lot of "eco" taxes are just big business or government scams.

 

[Russ]

I also need to pay this stupid Eco Tax, but I need to find a weigh bridge first cause it's all worked out by the kilo :shock:

Make sure you pay it otherwise it's a 7.5k fine......

What will they think of next?

Russ

 

[adidat]

so if you make something that weighs 4999g you have to pay 12.5c ??

adidat

 

[Peter Sefton]

This is shocking and so unfair, I wonder how long until we get it

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Please don't tell our politicians - they'll introduce it plus windmill tax. Politicians are, for the most part, morons.

 

[WoodMangler]

Please don't tell our politicians - they'll introduce it plus windmill tax. Politicians are, for the most part, morons.

I think you'll find it's usually civil servants who 'gold-plate' this crap from europe - as someone said on here not too long ago, it's not their money they're spending...

 

[Shrubby]

Chipboard is heavy so hopefully this will impact the low cost/high volume tat sellers - pushing customers to look at smaller makers (quality/heirloom/ non landfill type stuff from local timbers etc)
Matt

 

[Neil Farrer]

Perhaps you ought to look into the options of leasing your furniture to the prospective user, by definition the client who leases it will be required to return the furniture, thereby nullifying the possibility of it being consigned to landfill. alternatively could you sell it as firewood? What the new owner does with it in the interim one hundred or so years between acquisition and disposal therefore should be of no concern to the French government or your departed soul. The French are past masters at making up stupid rules and ignoring them or finding ways round them so hopefully you wil be able to get round it. I am sure the French ex pat readers are well aware of the stupid rules regarding the carrying of alcohol breath testers in cars. They have to comply with the French standard "NF" and when the regulations came into force finally the fine written into law was zero euros. You can be caught without having one of these things but you can't be fined for it!! Stupid people.

 

[Russ]

Perhaps you ought to look into the options of leasing your furniture to the prospective user, by definition the client who leases it will be required to return the furniture, thereby nullifying the possibility of it being consigned to landfill. alternatively could you sell it as firewood? What the new owner does with it in the interim one hundred or so years between acquisition and disposal therefore should be of no concern to the French government or your departed soul. The French are past masters at making up stupid rules and ignoring them or finding ways round them so hopefully you wil be able to get round it. I am sure the French ex pat readers are well aware of the stupid rules regarding the carrying of alcohol breath testers in cars. They have to comply with the French standard "NF" and when the regulations came into force finally the fine written into law was zero euros. You can be caught without having one of these things but you can't be fined for it!! Stupid people.

I like!

 

[Sawyer]

I also need to pay this stupid Eco Tax, but I need to find a weigh bridge first cause it's all worked out by the kilo :shock:

Make sure you pay it otherwise it's a 7.5k fine......

What will they think of next?

Russ

Taxed by weight, not price. This insanity will little bother the mass retailers. They'll just need to record the weight of standard every item in their catalogue and charge the customer accordingly.
But the burden on the small producer of one off items will be huge. I suppose one will have to:
1. When doing a quote, guess how much the finished article is likely to weigh, and add the tax accordingly.
2. Invest in specialised weighing equipment.
3. If quote is accepted and the item made, determine the finished weight.
4. If weight was over-estimated, adjust the bill to charge customer the correct tax.
5. If weight was under-estimated, pay the difference out of own pocket as customer will not appreciate being asked to pay more than the quote.

Enforcement will be interesting too. If they suspect the wrong tax has been paid, what are they going to do? Descend on clients' addresses with weighing equipment? What if it is a built-in item?

Monty Python and Kafka working together would have been hard-pushed to come up with a more perverse and idiotic piece of legislation! :x (hammer) :x (hammer)

 

[SteveB43]

Play 'em at their own game..stop producing furniture completely, the sales ticket should now read 'work of art'
the fact that you can sit on it, sleep on it, or eat off it is irrelevant, that's up to the owner... :lol:

 

[whiskywill]

Balsa wood furniture????????????????

 

[Benchwayze]

Please don't tell our politicians - they'll introduce it plus windmill tax. Politicians are, for the most part, morons.

Ref my added 'bold':

I would agree Phil, except they all seem to be adept at making personal fortunes. I wish I was that moronic.
So I believe they are just sharpsters who have found an easy way to make money. Their lack of intelligence is displayed by their willingness to take advice from other sharpsters who are on the bandwagon, and who don't consider any proposals further than the nearest money tree.
8)