Australia is set to unveil the full details of its contentious pollution tax within days, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Tuesday, promising help for households facing higher energy bills.
Australia will unveil the full details of its contentious pollution tax within days, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Tuesday, promising help for households facing higher energy bills.The tax, to apply to Australia's top 1,000 polluters from mid-2012, follows two failed attempts by the ruling Labor party to introduce an emissions trading scheme (ETS) in a bid to cut carbon emissions blamed for global warming. Australia is among the world's worst per capita polluters due to its reliance on coal-fired power and resources exports, and Labor plans to charge big business a fixed price per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted. The levy will give way to an ETS within five years linked to global carbon markets.Swan said the full details -- including the per tonne price and compensation for households and business -- would be unveiled on Sunday, following several months of intense multi-party negotiations. "This price on carbon pollution will apply to fewer than 1,000 of our largest polluters. It will not apply directly to households," Swan told reporters.Read full at PhysOrg
Australia will unveil the full details of its contentious pollution tax within days, Treasurer Wayne Swan said Tuesday, promising help for households facing higher energy bills.The tax, to apply to Australia's top 1,000 polluters from mid-2012, follows two failed attempts by the ruling Labor party to introduce an emissions trading scheme (ETS) in a bid to cut carbon emissions blamed for global warming. Australia is among the world's worst per capita polluters due to its reliance on coal-fired power and resources exports, and Labor plans to charge big business a fixed price per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted. The levy will give way to an ETS within five years linked to global carbon markets.Swan said the full details -- including the per tonne price and compensation for households and business -- would be unveiled on Sunday, following several months of intense multi-party negotiations. "This price on carbon pollution will apply to fewer than 1,000 of our largest polluters. It will not apply directly to households," Swan told reporters.Read full at PhysOrg