Business Management - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... Important issues arising from the carbon tax were identified by using the Force Field Analysis. The findings indicate that Australian products and the industry will be less competitive due to increased costs of production. Increases are also expected in the consumer price index, power generation, household expenses and job losses. Based on these findings, certain recommendations are made to reduce the side effects of carbon tax burden. These include imposing an entry carbon tax for cheaper imports and launching a scheme of roof top solar panels and wind power systems. The government can buy the power generated through these renewable energy systems. 2. Introduction The carbon tax is a type of indirect tax on the carbon content of fuels and paid by the citizens of a country. The tax is a form of 'Pigovian' tax since they tax the emitters of greenhouse gases while not making them pay the full social costs of excess carbon emission. Most of the hydrocarbon fossil fuels such as coal, diesel, and crude oil have a certain carbon percent that is released as Carbon Di Oxide when the fuel is burnt. The CO2 is a green house gas and it causes global warming while increasing the pollution levels. Firms such as power stations, oil companies, metal foundries, mining firms, cement manufacturers are the greatest emitters of CO2. Carbon tax is levied by adding a certain amount of tax on petrol, diesel and the electric power consumed by citizens in an area (Reuven and Uhlmann, 2009, p. 117). 2.1 Mechanisms used for Carbon tax implementation As per carbon tax regulations, industries identified as high emitters are taxed as per the amount of carbon they emit and this is measured in USD/ AUD per ton of carbon released. Reference tables are available that specify the amount of carbon that each type of industry emits. Therefore, an oil company such as BP will have a high liability while an automobile manufacturer that manufactures small four wheelers used to transport passengers will have a lower liability. A power generation plant that uses coal has a higher liability while one that uses natural gas has a lower liability (Metcalf, 2010, p. 63). As an example, CO2 emission for gasoline is 2.35 kilograms per litre of fuel burnt while for diesel it is 5.08 Kg/ litre of fuel burnt. For lignite coal, it is 1.396 kilogram/ kilogram while for natural gas it is 1.93 Kg/ cubic meter. This translates to a tax of 0.028 USD/ litre for gasoline for diesel it is 0.032 USD/ litre. For coal, tax is 0.0121 USD per Kilo Watt Hour (kWh) and for natural gas, it is 0.0066 USD/ kWh. Emitters are required to purchase carbon credits or they pay the tax for the products (Metcalf, 2009, p. 2). The money obtained from the tax is used to offset carbon, to set up solar and wind generation projects, in developing more fuel-efficient cars and improving power generation plants and so on. Tax placed on electric power consumed is called as energy tax while emission tax is the tax paid for each ton of carbon emitted. Many nations such as UK, Australia, New Zealand, many countries of Europe and USA have implemented carbon tax regimes (Lin and Li, 2011, p. 5138). Each nation has its own system of carbon taxation and levies. This paper will however focus only on carbon taxes for Australia and its impact on the economy and households. 3. Impact on Australian Environment and Households This section analyses the impact of carbon tax on the Australian business environment and ...Download file to see next pagesRead More