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France to compensate for lower eco-tax revenue: Sapin

[June 23, 2014]  PARIS (Reuters) - French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said the government will compensate for lower revenue from a planned ecology tax through other types of levies, for example motorway toll taxes.

The government last November froze plans for an "eco-tax" on trucks after protests by farmers and truckers in northwestern France, who clashed with police and torched dozens of toll gates designed to collect the levy.

The government confirmed at the weekend that the levy would be resurrected in a watered-down form.

Sapin told France Info radio on Monday that it would pull in around 500 million euros ($679 million) a year in its new form, down from the initially expected 800 million.

"There will be less money, we will find other sources .. We are working on it, it could be motorway tolls, for example," the minister said.

Ouest France newspaper said at the weekend the levy was due to come into force on Jan. 1, 2015.

(Reporting by Mark John; Editing by James Regan)

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