One of the purported advantages of a carbon tax over cap-and-trade is that it would be simple, as simple as grandma and apple pie and just as hard to frak with. That view has taken a bit of a blow from the latest news out of France.

The French Constitutional Council has rejected a tax on carbon emissions strongly backed by President Nicolas Sarkozy that was to take effect Friday. But his ruling conservative party said the measure would be redrafted so it could be passed into law next year.

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The council, which evaluates the constitutionality of proposed laws, ruled late Tuesday that the bill contained too many exemptions for polluters, broke with past practices and threatened to make tax collection unfair.

Sarkozy could make the tax more, er, simple, but “it remains unclear how the bill could be modified to meet the demands of the council without fierce objections from French industry.”

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I guess implementation is rough all over.