Carbon Tax

[Firey]

Possibly one of the most ironic schemes brought up by the Australian Labor Party, in my opinion.

What is Carbon Tax?
Carbon Tax is basically where the government increases taxes for carbon-related products; i.e. electricity power usage.
The carbon tax will add an additional price to the normal taxes and it will keep rising until 2015, when the government will shift to a trading scheme that will let the market set the cost.

What is the purpose of Carbon Tax?
The Carbon Tax is supposed to "prevent people from utilizing excessive power" "to help protect the environment" and to "boost the Australian economy" and the government says that "by polluting the environment, you have to pay the price."


From all of this, I think the Carbon Tax plan is dodgy and I find it all unnecessary.
They say that "it's going to prevent pollution" and "the money will be used to help households."
If you want to help the environment and be energy efficient, then why not install solar panels and build wind mills instead of adding these Carbon Taxes, or at least some other scheme that doesn't involve ridiculous taxes?
Honestly, I think these are all excuses from the government to make profits.

[McSleuthburger]

friendly reminder to everyone, please dont post anything that would be against the rules in here

on topic:
This is an easy way to increase gov. income that the everyday worker likes because they arent getting taxed directly and it is helping the environment, though since the companies are paying more the people who purchase the produces will most likely be paying more

another system similar to this is that companies can buy carbon credit from the government that allows them to produce so much carbon before purchasing they have to purchase more credit, sometimes the government could only distribute a limited number of credit so the price for them could rise dramatically (they could also be traded company to company)

With the solar panels or wind turbines remember that they cost a bit of money to build and dont give you the best power/price

[Firey]

friendly reminder to everyone, please dont post anything that would be against the rules in here

on topic:
(1) This is an easy way to increase gov. income that the everyday worker likes because they arent getting taxed directly and it is helping the environment, though since the companies are paying more the people who purchase the produces will most likely be paying more

another system similar to this is that companies can buy carbon credit from the government that allows them to produce so much carbon before purchasing they have to purchase more credit, sometimes the government could only distribute a limited number of credit so the price for them could rise dramatically (they could also be traded company to company)

(2) With the solar panels or wind turbines remember that they cost a bit of money to build and dont give you the best power/price

2 objections here;

(1) It is good in the governments perspective but I don't really see how it's supposed to help the environment nor do I see it helping the economy. It basically just puts more stress on people trying to budget and not only that, people in financial issues, ESPECIALLY after the severe floods that occurred in January 2011, there are families STILL trying to recover.

(2) I do agree with that, but there are other countries which have success with using solar and wind power and money shouldn't be an issue either. Australia is one of the biggest suppliers of major resources in the world exporting goods such as coal and iron. The government earns big income from this.

[Little Judas]

Solar panels give unclean power, maybe the new ones are better.
Normal DC gives a nice sine-function, but solar power gives a modified version of it.


It's possible to straighten this out but it cost more and neither the solar-cells nor the converter are with an unclean production.

[McSleuthburger]

I should clarify that (1) im not really familiar with the Australasian Gov. or its problems (2)i have an Econ Degree so im kinda of taking a business side of looking at it and going from there

yes with more taxes it will always hurts the lower classes that are having enough trouble trying to budget already, though sometimes they could get lower tax rates

With the tax, yes it really only helps the government....if the money was actually put to good use then it would benefit all but I dont see that happening
I never really said anything about the economy benefiting, but basically yes it will hurt the companies and then the consumers.....again if the money was put back into the system instead of governor's wallets everyone would benefit

basically if taxes are put back into the economy, yes it could hurt the people in the short run but then if the government spends the taxes on the right projects the money will be inserted back into the economy then there would not be that much that would be noticeable in the long run

[Kiruu]

I'm sorta on the fence about the carbon tax. Didn't Gillard say when she came into power that it wouldn't be implemented? 

[Firey]

I'm sorta on the fence about the carbon tax. Didn't Gillard say when she came into power that it wouldn't be implemented? 

Well actually, Julia Gillard encouraged the carbon tax to be implemented.
Also, the carbon tax was already commenced on 1st of July,
after the Carbon Tax legislation was passed through parliament. 

[Lary]

The government needs the money anyway. America is still trillions of dollars in debt. As long as I know my tax money is going to good use, I don't care how much I need to pay.

Solar energy is a joke. Too expensive for too little gain.

Wind energy is extremely cheap, but not efficient enough to power entire cities (unless you want every remaining free acre of land to be covered in windmills...)

[Firey]

The government needs the money anyway. America is still trillions of dollars in debt. As long as I know my tax money is going to good use, I don't care how much I need to pay.

Solar energy is a joke. Too expensive for too little gain.Th

Wind energy is extremely cheap, but not efficient enough to power entire cities (unless you want every remaining free acre of land to be covered in windmills...)

Yeah, America may need it, but Australia doesn't need carbon tax.
The Australian government earns a lot of its income from overseas exports and trades.
There has to be some other environmental scheme.
If solar power and wind power won't work out, then Australia should try hydro power.
It's one of the most efficient techniques for generating electricity.
Some statistics:

The hydroelectricity efficiency is far better than that of other alternative energy sources,
a typical, modern hydroelectric plant produces at a 90% efficiency rate 24 hours a day, completely unmonitored.
Wind power has only about a 30% efficiency rate (this number varies widely each year,
from 20% to 34% and everywhere in between).
While the efficiency rating of solar power is still on the rise thanks to advances in technology,
it has only a 40% efficiency rating with the latest technology.

[Kiruu]

The way I see it, no matter what happens its a dead end. 

[Lary]

Yeah, America may need it, but Australia doesn't need carbon tax.
The Australian government earns a lot of its income from overseas exports and trades.
There has to be some other environmental scheme.
If solar power and wind power won't work out, then Australia should try hydro power.
It's one of the most efficient techniques for generating electricity.

I definitely think Hydro Power has some potential. What worries me is how much it will cost (it might not be much, but you know how governments love to jack up prices far higher than they should be...)

Reminds me of a song my friend made up when he was 6...

If I had a dollar, I'd buy Australia
Blow it all up and build it again!
If I had a dollar, the world would end.
Now give me a dollar!

[Remedy]

Solar panels give unclean power, maybe the new ones are better.
Normal DC gives a nice sine-function, but solar power gives a modified version of it.

Do you perhaps mean AC? (Meaning Alternating Current.)
I've never heard of any mains power being supplied in Direct Current.

Solar energy is a joke. Too expensive for too little gain.

Tell that to NASA and Roscosmos.

[Book Smarts]

Random taxes are a governments way of saying,"Sorry, we are wasting money, we need more." I'm alright with sales, income, and a few others that I'm probably forgetting to name, but you know the government is desperately in need of money when they tax you for...

Car
Gas
Carbon