Aussies dump carbon tax

by John Seiler | July 7, 2014 2:40 pm

AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006[1], was enacted by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger not just to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California by 30 percent. Its exact wording also read:

National and international actions are necessary to fully address the issue of global warming. However, action taken by California to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases will have far-reaching effects by encouraging other states, the federal government, and other countries to act.”

That seemed to be happening in 2012, when Australia imposed a carbon tax on its industries.

But the Aussies just used Crocodile Dundee’s knife to cut away that tax. AP reported[2]:

The undoing of that perspective will likely be complete after a new Senate is sworn in Monday. It’s expected to give Prime Minister Tony Abbott the votes he needs to repeal a 2-year-old tax charged to around 350 of Australia’s biggest carbon polluters. Three top political leaders lost their jobs over the issue as support for climate-change measures plummeted.

A global recession, political miscalculations and failed negotiations only partially explain the dramatic change.

Opponents of the carbon tax implemented in 2012 had the media largely on their side. Electricity prices soared — not mainly because of the tax, but because power companies were spending billions on infrastructure. Most electricity users were compensated for the added cost of the tax, but many of them didn’t know that. And rising gas prices fed the fury — even though the tax didn’t apply to gasoline.

Australia’s experience illustrates how easy it is to scuttle complicated environmental laws, and serves as a warning to President Barack Obama, whose recent proposal to force a 30 percent cut in power plants’ carbon emissions is drawing anger from both sides of politics.

Australia’s economy today is about half California’s, with a strong emphasis on commodities shipped to Asia’s burgeoning industries. Which means China, Japan, South Korea, India, etc. weren’t inspired by AB 32, either. They’re still going to turn Aussie commodities into iPhones and Kias.

Meanwhile, the new state budget includes Gov. Jerry Brown’s program[3] to use about a quarter of the state’s $1 billion yearly cap-and-trade tax to build the high-speed rail white elephant.

Source URL: https://calwatchdog.com/2014/07/07/aussies-dump-carbon-tax/

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