With regards to the carbon tax legislation presently before parliament, I object, as this tax exposes the Australian citizen to market forces outside Australia who will set and change the price of carbon and therefore the cost of this tax.
What has been kept out of the public eye about the proposed carbon tax is the fact that the units will be traded, with a significant percentage of the units expected to be bought from overseas interests. While they may talk about a price for carbon, this is only a starting price. The real price will be set by market forces, which means the government will have no control over the cost of this tax.
Once on the books, how will the taxpayer object to the amount he/she has to pay, if parties offshore actually profit from its exchange? The government will have lost any control over the carbon price as set by the ‘market’. Any attempt to argue that compensation will offset the tax for those affected is delusional.
How wise is it to hand over the matter of taxation to ‘market forces’, most of which are not even in this country? This tax will have no set price or upper limit. How will businesses, large or small, be able to budget for a tax when the price will fluctuate? It is without precedent to expose businesses to an unknown cost of taxation.
Australian citizens deserve to know in concrete terms what it will cost them and not be sacrificed to the whims of the market.
I urge your readers to voice their objections to their MP before it’s too late.
John Doecke
Dalby QLD
