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Carbon tax calculator exposes hit to family and business budgets
MEDIA RELEASE
The Institute of Public Affairs, Australia's leading free market think tank, today distributed thousands of postcards to small businesses across the country highlighting a new research tool which allows Australians to calculate the impact to their budgets from the carbon tax.
‘It's clearer today than it ever has been that the world is not taking action on climate change,' said Alan Moran, Director of the Deregulation Unit at the IPA.
‘The carbon tax has an impact on every single Australian and every single Australian business which is why we have produced this research.
‘The tax comes on top of existing measures including the requirement to have very expensive renewable energy mixed into the general electricity supply, at a cost of hundreds of dollars per year to the average household.
‘Canada has said they plan to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Climate conference delegates currently in Durban, South Africa, show no prospect of agreeing to a global, legally-binding agreement.
‘And yet the Australian government has just imposed its "world-leading" carbon tax which will cost the average small business $3,051 per year in higher electricity prices alone according to IPA research. Households can expect increases of as much as $220 per year,' said Mr Moran.
The IPA's carbon tax calculator allows Australians to input simple information from their latest electricity bill to calculate their expected increase. Thousands of postcards promoting www.carbontaxcalc.com have been mailed to small businesses to promote the website.
The calculator's conservative estimates are based on industry and government data.
The costs do not include the very substantial sums electricity consumers are forced to lay out for uncompetitive renewable energy. Nor do they include the billions of dollars each year that the taxpayer is being slugged for subsidies to the production of those renewables and other "low carbon emitting" supplies.
The IPA's carbon tax calculator is available at www.carbontaxcalc.com.