Farm Can you explain what this has to do with the carbon tax? The US has abundant gas. Our wages are high. What has any of this to do with Carbon Tax?
Sure.
The US has abundant gas, and they have cultivated that resource, encouraged it, supported it. The result is a huge carbon emission reduction without any new taxes.
Australia has even more gas than the US, and we could be doing the same thing, with direct benefit for lower emissions.
But we chose the exact opposite approach to the US. Our costs are vastly higher than the US, getting higher by the day, and applying the carbon tax only makes them even higher.
Think of it this way. We presently export coal in a quantity that, when burnt overseas, generates about twice the amount of emissions that we generate at home. So while we effectively export vast qauntities of greenhouse gases, we try to limit our own home grown emissions with a tax. It makes no sense at all.
The net effect is a move away from expensive gas at home, - because of high costs exacerbated by the carbon tax, - while we export the gas to countries that can burn it willy-nilly.
It was a big mistake, and if the US does not follow us, it is futile, worse, its puts us at a huge competitive disadvantage.
Already our energy costs are near twice that of the US, think about that, twice. To put it another way, what do you think it would do for our economy if tomorrow gas at the pump was 95 cents a litre, for the public and industry. Do you think it would create more jobs, profits and tax revenue?
The US is struggling still. It just beggars common sense that we can claim to lead the world, with cost of living near twice that of the US. Its just plain unsustainable.
