Carbon Tax

Overview:

The Carbon Tax was introduced by the Gillard Government on July 1 2012. The Carbon Tax Scheme involved imposing a tax of $23/tonne on the top 1000 polluters of Synthetic Greenhouse Gases (SGG) controlled by the Kyoto Protocol. It was designed to increase annually by 2.5 percent for a three year period, it increased to $24.15/tonne from 2013-2014 and increased again to $25.40/tonne in 2014 before being abolished by the Abbott Government in July 2014.

The Carbon Tax affects & the public’s views:

The public held different views on the levy of the Carbon Tax, with most businesses showing disappointment with the burdens that were imposed on them. An Australian Industry Group survey conducted in early 2013 revealed that many businesses believe the Carbon Tax had increased their costs by far more than it actually had. A MYOB survey, which was conducted on over 1000 companies in early 2013, found that small businesses were demanding urgent relief from bureaucratic red tape and wanted the Carbon Tax scrapped.

Even though the public held different views on the Carbon Tax, drops in carbon emissions from the electricity sector with much greater use of renewable energy and cutbacks in consumption, as well as drops in carbon emissions in general, were reported in the first six months of its implementation.

The Carbon Tax & HFC Refrigerants:

Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants, which have high global warming potential (GWP) have imposed significant new charges. The phase-out of HFCs is also driving the increase of refrigerant pricing.