Search results

That's not funny to me TF. I have spent too much time "debating" this very point with more than one "stakeholder" in my past life developing wind farm projects. All these wind farms in the world are just gonna slow down the wind and throw the earth off balance doncha know... Not to mention...

Stunning logic. You impose a carbon tax, while at the same time reduce income tax for the majority of Australians. And people complain that because someone called the reduction in income tax "compensation", it is therefore not a good idea? There will be a price signal to use less energy...

I guess it would be if it were true... No moral ground here Dazz. Climate Change is not a moral issue (to me at least) - it's just the overwhelming weight of evidence shows it's a risk that deserves managing. Moving our taxation base away from income and towards carbon is a measured...

There is no choice... Can I just point out the obvious again? A number of people in this thread have seemed to forget it... - Every major political party in the Federal parliament supports action on Climate Change. - The policy of both the Liberal party and the Labor party is to impose a...

I've done the work myself Dazz and those projections are pretty close to the money in my view. What basis precisely do you have for refuting them?

Oh well, in that case the Liberal party had better change its policy before they lose the next election as a result! As TA said "This is very difficult for us - our problem is that 80% of voters want action on climate change".

Industry is free to charge additional costs at any time - they don't have to wait for a CT. Competition is what stops them - a CT will only ensure they also compete on the basis of lowering their emissions. Hyberbole like "crippling industry" is only used by those who aren't at all familiar...

Hi Belbo I wish it were the case that the debate could be had purely on its merits. However, every major economic reform has had to combine two things to get up: 1) The merits of the argument itself, as you describe; and 2) The belief by the majority of individuals in society that they...

I don't know what Dazz was referring to but the "winners" out of this package are really people on low to middle incomes. It can be safely assumed there are proportionately more people who fit that description outside WA... After all this is really John Howard's fault for two reasons: 1)...

No, there is no change to their returns. They don't have any cost impact from a carbon tax to pass through. They will still have the same $xbn worth of poles and wires out there and will still be receiving the same return on those poles and wires. The cost of the stuff they transport...

Dazz - I can see your line of reasoning in the lower houses. My thinking was focussed on the upper houses in my post, although no doubt it didn't come out that way. Rather than focussing on govt I was thinking of getting the legislative agenda through. I see no sign of the Greens loosening...

You might need to do a bit of research on that one IV. Transmission companies in the NEM get a regulated return on capital deployed for transporting energy. The underlying cost of the stuff they transport has no impact on their returns. You may be able to argue they get to deploy more wires...

$100/tonne (real) would result in an increase of electricity prices from BAU to 30c/kWh from 20c/kWh currently, give or take. That would certainly get us there. Might be a bit on the high side but it's impossible to tell this far out. It all depends on what happens to the price of the fossils...

Hi Lizzie Initially we don't need any alternatives - 5% by 2020 can be easily achieved by using less energy to do the same thing. Insulation, process plant improvements, automation, installing higher efficiency equipment, etc etc etc. There are opportunities all over the place that will...

I meant an ETS with an initial fixed price period. As to unwinding, a lot of companies will invest a lot of money once the carbon price is set like this. This money has been sitting on the sidelines in the power industry (for one) for years waiting for more certainty about carbon pricing...

Agreed on the bit about increasing the GST. It's a trade neutral tax (below $1k anyway...) and the proceeds could be used for tax cuts for companies in the way you propose. Have to be careful about how to provide tax cuts to companies that reduce emissions because then you get into a whole...

:eek: Glad to see you noticed Dazz! And good to see you engage in this debate too... I attempted to chastise Mr Ludlam for use of my image but it turns out he had nothing to do with it. The esteemed publication in question just plundered their archive from about five years ago for an...

I would agree with all this if the carbon price was actually a material one. But at $23/tonne I just can't see these issues happening. That price makes very little difference to all this - to be more specific, it makes about 5% difference by 2020! And that's to emissions - from memory about...

:) Glad to see someone knows something about tax. I was beginning to despair... Yes, of course, income and company taxation are nice "risk sharing" schemes where government only taxes you if you make money. All the downside is of course yours but if you lose money from your venture at...

Does it matter? If income tax (to take one example) keeps being reduced / elimintated by the same amount that a carbon tax is raised, what's the problem? The result would be no more taxation on the economy than we currently enjoy and therefore no loss of competitiveness - tax just comes from...