Australia's Carbon Tax: "Let the Polluter Pay"

[txlibdem]

Australia's Carbon Tax: "Let the Polluter Pay"
Nov 14, 2011 By Anita Ramachandran

Australia's parliament passed the Clean Energy Act last week. This Act will permit Australia to tax carbon emissions. It is one of the biggest economic reforms for the country, and a big personal victory for Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Did you know that the average person (per capita) in Australia is responsible for more carbon pollution than an average person anywhere else in the world? At the same time Australia as a country is responsible for only 1.5% of all the carbon pollution in the world.

What makes a single Australian a greater polluter than any other person in the World? Well, Australia generates its electricity using coal. Coal is a fossil fuel that generates a large amount of carbon when burnt. It may not be a surprise to many of you that the world’s largest polluting countries are US and China. Take a look at the CO2 maps in the notes.

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Countries around the world are racing against time to deal with the rising temperatures and hopefully reverse its effect. There are no easy solutions; however Australia believes its solution is make the polluters pay. The top 500 polluters will be required to pay a fixed tax of A$23 (US$ 23.78) for every ton of carbon that they will put out, from July 2012.

http://www.youngzine.com/article/australias-carbon-tax-let-polluter-pay