On April 15, one of history’s most treasured buildings was swept by a fire. The Notre Dame Cathedral ignited on fire during the renovation of the structure, causing major damage to all of the building, along with the cathedral’s iconic spire collapsing. Firefighters ruled the fire as an accident rather than arson. Some artifacts as well as art pieces have been recovered according to Paris’ Mayor, Anne Hidalgo. France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, pledged to build up the cathedral once again within 5 years, calling it a national emergency.

After the fire, numerous people donated funds to rebuild the cathedral. Around a billion dollars was raised to help rebuild the cathedral. Most of the donations are from the wealthy people in France, such as François-Henri Pinault, who leads the business Kering SA, which runs fashion brands such as Gucci. According to People Magazine, he had donated 100 million euros, or 113 million dollars. The City of Paris donated 50 million euros, or 56 million dollars towards the cathedral according to People Magazine and The Washington Post.

The money donated to restoring the Notre Dame Cathedral is a good thing, but others do disagree–such as the Yellow Vest Protesters. These protesters are angry with the high taxes in France, and sparked with the high fuel taxes in France. The Yellow Vest Protesters are derived from the law of requiring a yellow vest in your vehicle.

The anger arises from the quick response to the donations and attention from the government to the fire, rather than the tax issues. Emmanuel Macron was scheduled to give a speech on the issues from the protests, but were cancelled in favor of addressing the cathedral.

The Yellow Vest Protests are indeed very serious to France. However, a cathedral that has been up for almost a millennium is also of significance. The Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the main hallmarks of France. The cathedral is as close in popularity in France as the Eiffel Tower, and is one of the greatest cathedrals in the world. When this event occurred, the speech on the protest was within hours of the event. France’s main priority during that time was the devastation in the cathedral, surely not taxes. The donations were mostly private, as one of the only public funds given was the 50 million euros from Paris.

Also, France is in the European Union as well as the Schengen Agreement. Any person that is a citizen of the European Union can work in any country within it. The taxes in France only apply to that country, and nowhere else within the EU. There is also the topic of the main focus of the Yellow Vest Protest, which is the tax on fuel. Depending on the job and overall location, a vehicle may not even be needed, especially with public transportation in Europe being much better than in the United States.

However, the taxes are especially high for Europe. According to The Guardian, the fuel tax on unleaded gasoline is 64% and 59% on diesel. The highest tax in the EU for unleaded gasoline is in the Netherlands at 68%, and the lowest in Bulgaria at 51%. With the protest going on for months now, it is understandable that there would be anger towards the speech only addressing the cathedral. However, only the future will tell what decisions the French Government will make regarding taxes.