Last
month, French Senator Yves Daudigny, along with his colleague Catherine
Deroche, released a report calling for more taxes for the French people
– specifically, “behavioural taxes”.
In this report, the Senators include a
recommendation for a new tax on palm oil in France. This tax would be
regressive and unjust. It would also be contrary to the best scientific
evidence available today, and would raise prices for consumers across
France. Such a tax would also mean Senators Daudigny and Deroche were
responsible for visiting economic harm on 300,000 small farmers in
Malaysia.
In addition to these facts, the proposal
from Senators Daudigny and Deroche is irresponsible on both health and
environmental grounds.
Palm oil is the most land-efficient
oilseed crop, meaning that less previous agricultural land is used for
palm oil than for competitor oils such as rapeseed and sunflower.
Attempts to push palm oil out of markets – such as the ‘tax raising’
attempt of Senators Daudigny and Deroche – will simply lead to more land
being used for oilseed crops, prices rising for French consumers, and
food being produced in a less efficient manner.
Equally, palm oil’s health profile makes
it ideal for use in food applications – protectionist attempts to
reduce the use of palm oil could harm the health profile of many
products across France. Palm oil has proven to be an effective, low-cost
and healthier replacement for partially hydrogenated oils that create
trans fats. The negative effect on health of trans fats is recognized
across the world – the American Food & Drug Agency (FDA) is now
proposing to ban trans fats altogether. Attempts to place further taxes
on palm oil, as suggested in this report from the Senators, risk
exposing consumers in Europe to more trans fats.
This proposal is unjustifiable and
irresponsible. It is also set on false pretences. Senators Daudigny and
Deroche have presented this as a ‘tax harmonization’. For 300,000 small
farmers across Malaysia, it is not a harmonisation: the tax would rise.
That is the fact of the matter. It is not responsible to present this as
something it is not.
This issue may sound familiar to many
people – because Senator Daudigny has a history of proposing anti-palm
oil measures. He has tried twice – in 2012 and in 2013 – to raise a
specific tax on palm oil – the famous “Nutella Tax”. These proposals
were opposed by scientists, businesspeople, and political, in Europe,
and in Malaysia. The French Parliament, wisely, rejected the “Nutella
Tax”, on both occasions when Senator Daudigny demanded it.
In fact, then-Prime Minister Jean-Marc
Ayrault stated, on behalf of the French Government, that taxes on palm
oil would not be raised in France. Introduction of such a tax would not
only have the negative health, social, economic and environmental
impacts as set out above, but it would also affect the France-Malaysia
relationship.
However, it is pleasing to see that some
French politicians and Senators are aware of the facts on health &
nutrition, and some are willing to speak out. Senator Catherine
Procaccia, for example, has criticised the retailers who have promoted
‘no palm oil’ labels, and recognizes the importance of palm oil to the
French food industry.
Senator Daudigny, along with his
colleague Senator Deroche, clearly wishes to. Once again, attack palm
oil to benefit the protectionist interests of the local French rapeseed
and sunflower industries. The Nutella tax failed twice, the French Prime
Minister stated that no new taxes should be introduced, and there is a
growing understanding in French media of the importance and superiority
of palm oil from a health and environmental standpoint.
The French Government must, once again,
reject such anti-palm oil sentiments. Senator Daudigny is determined to
visit harm on Malaysian small farmers, French consumers, and the food
industry. He must not be allowed to do so.
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