Monday, August 8, 2011

Australian Tax and Environmental Price Reform

New ERP Gantry at Hill ViewTax Reform: Next Steps for Australia (42 page pdf, Commonwealth of Australia 2011)

Also discussed here: Australian Federal Government floats road pricing in new tax discussion paper (Road Pricing, Jul. 28, 2011)

Australia, Germany and the UK and a few other countries have governments whose policies are influenced by a party that promotes environmental and economic sustainabilility and keeps in power the party leading government, as long as its policies reflect the political reality. The minority Labour government in Australia is proposing a number of tax reforms including several that include environmental price reform in response to congestion, climate change and the graying population- as it affects traffic congestion, carbon fuel use and the need for equitable, used-based taxes. Portions of the Tax Reform Discussion Paper paper are quoted below.

Key Quotes:

“the costs of urban congestion are increasing, and are forecast to rise to $20 billion per annum by 2020”

“The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Road Reform Plan is considering reforms to road charging and funding based on giving better incentives to operators by charging heavy vehicles on the basis of their mass, the roads they use, and the distance travelled”

“The AFTS review recommended that governments should consider the introduction of variable congestion pricing. Beyond that, the review commented that new technologies may further enable wider application of road pricing if proven cost-effective”

“The carbon price arrangements that the Government announced on 10 July 2011 are a cost effective way to achieve significant reductions in carbon pollution, by providing incentives to businesses to reduce their pollution and invest in clean energy. The two-stage plan for a carbon price mechanism will start with a fixed price period for three years, before transitioning to an emissions trading scheme”

Some questions posed:
  • “Should Australia consider ways to more closely link road charging to the impact users have on the condition and upkeep of roads?
  • Is there a case to more closely link road charging to the impact users have on the level of congestion on particular roads?
  • Are there aspects of other tax arrangements that create unintended incentives for adverse environmental outcomes, or ways in which governments could use specific taxes to ensure that people take appropriate account of environmental impacts in their decision making?”
Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)