The cash-strapped French government has found a new way to strip its citizens: the Picnic Tax
Edouard Manet: : The Picnic on the Grass (Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, 1863). Click for bigger
Ecology minister Jean-Louis Borloo wants to add a 20% tax to all disposable articles: plastic cutlery, plates and beakers, but also plastic bags, shrink film and aluminum foil. If he gets his way he’ll go even further, and also tax disposable lighters and razors. The levy is supposed to go toward recycling projects, but it’s more likely to disappear in the ever-growing budget hole.
At this point there are no plans to confiscate clothes of people having a picnic, so painter Manet didn’t get it quite right.
