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Carbon And Levy, Two Taxes, Two Fights. (Read 184 times)
imcrookonit
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Carbon And Levy, Two Taxes, Two Fights.
Feb 27th, 2011 at 5:23pm
 
The fate of one tax will hang in the balance. The fight over another will intensify.

The federal government's flood levy will be the primary focus in federal parliament's upper house this week but its carbon tax is set to dominate debate elsewhere.

The government got the $1.8 billion levy through the House of Representatives last week after winning the support of four key crossbenchers.


The Senate will start debating the levy on Monday but its passage is not guaranteed.

The government has won over the Greens and Family First's Steve Fielding but it's yet to secure the support of South Australian independent Nick Xenophon.

Senator Xenophon wants the commonwealth to push the states into taking out disaster insurance rather than rely on federal funding for repairs.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be hoping to strike a deal with Senator Xenophon by the end of the week, even if the Senate's vote doesn't take place until sittings in late March.

Winning Senator Xenophon's support for the levy could prove easier than winning public and parliamentary support for the government's new carbon tax.

Ms Gillard was met with a hostile reaction when she announced the tax last week.

Her promise during last year's election campaign that her government would not introduce a carbon tax, has featured prominently in the criticisms.

The coalition's attack on the tax this week is likely to be ferocious.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was already on the warpath on Sunday, warning the tax would force up petrol prices by 6.5 cents a litre.

That's pure guesswork because the government is yet to actually nominate a price per tonne for emissions; in fact, it's yet to confirm whether petrol will be included in the scheme at all.

This may give a clue as to how the debate will shape up in the coming weeks.

The coalition will warn of impending doom; the government will dismiss the doomsaying as speculative fiction.

TreasurerWayne Swan said putting a price on carbon was the easiest and most efficient way to reduce carbon emissions.

"We anticipate a robust debate on these issues but we're absolutely confident that now's the time to price carbon," he said on Sunday.
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