Well its been ages since I last wrote on this blog. I thought I would write a little update with a comment on the Carbon Tax being implemented here in Australia.
I have found it amazing how much opposition the governments tax has recieved. The media seems to be on the major offensive on Julia Gillard and it seems to me that the goverment should have labelled it as a levy rather than a tax. Its really amazing how much propaganda opposition groups will readily use to stop this legislation. We are being inundated with tv commercials supported by mining giants and rightwing journalists claiming ‘family’s will be paying the price!’ At $23 a ton, the cost is pretty modest and I find it hard to believe that it will actually make a notiable difference interms of the costs which will be passed onto the consumer. Here are some question and answers on the topic that I regularly hear people ask on public forums.
Wont the costs of electricity rise with a Carbon Tax?
Yes they will, but only slightly. Such increases will likely to be regulated by the ACCC. Also understand that electricity prices have been rising and will continue to rise, despite the carbon taxes introduction.
How does the Carbon Tax work?
Essentially, by increasing the cost of fossil fuels, industry and individual consumers are encouraged to reduce consumption of products that are high in fossil fuels. It also makes Greener technologies such as solar, wind and geothermal, much more cost competitive. Without a tax on carbon, greener technologies will struggler to compete against the far cheaper dirty alternatives such as oil and coal. Revenue collected through carbon tax will be injected back into green technologies and to provide households with compensation.
Why act alone if the rest of the world doesnt act as well?
With Australia’s large agricultural sector and sensitive environment, climate change could have devastating affects on Australia. As one of the ‘big polluters’ and a wealthy country, we have the responsibility to the rest of the world to act against climate change. Other nations already have carbon taxing legistlation. If you look at a carbon tax interms of an insurance measure, the benefits to reduce pollution outweigh the benefits to do nothing.
But America isnt doing anything!
While America isnt making a national move to slow polluting emissions, carbon taxing has been introduced into the States of Colorado, Maryland and California. America also struggles with the large volume of opposition from Oil and Coal groups which have a much stronger lobby force at the Government Level. Also given its recent financial woes, it is unlikely to take on the debate anytime soon. However, America will likely follow suite if there is siginicant pressure from countries in which it trades with.
I have made a brief list of countries that already have a carbon tax and the cost per ton to put the Australian tax into perspective;
Australia – $23/ton
United Kingdom – Introduced a Carbon Trading Scheme
New Zealand – Introduced a Carbon Trading Scheme
China – unspecified cost, plans to introduce carbon tax in 2012-2013
India $1.07/ton
Taiwan $61 (proposed)
Sweden $150/ton
Netherlands $16/ton
Republic of Ireland $20/ton
France $25/ton
Denmark $18/ton
Norway $21/ton
Switzerland $34/ton
Costa Rica 3.5%/ton
Canadian States
Quebec – tax on co2 introduced in 2008, price not clear.
British Columbia $10/ton
Alberta – High emitters (>100,000 tons) $15/ton
