Posted on 05/25/2012 9:09:48 AM PDT by JohnKinAK
SHOPS and restaurants could face fines up to $1.1 million if waiters or sales staff wrongly blame the carbon tax for price rises or exaggerate the impact. And households are being warned to watch out for telephone scammers offering to deposit carbon tax compensation into their bank accounts.
The prices watchdog, the ACCC, will today launch its countdown to the July 1 carbon tax with a special focus on helping small businesses understand their obligations and consumers to be vigilant for false claims.
It is releasing internet videos to help business, a 16-page guide and has set up a dedicated website www.accc.gov.au/carbon.
ACCC deputy chairman Dr Michael Schaper told the Herald Sun companies were entitled to increase their prices and did not have to justify or explain why.
"It is business as usual,'' Dr Schaper said.
But if they blamed the carbon tax they must be able to prove it and not use it as a cover for other price increases related to wages, rent or stock.
"If a business claims that a price is linked to the carbon price, that claim must be truthful and have a reasonable basis,'' he said.
Dr Schaper said the warning applied to comments made by staff over the phone, on the shop floor or in meetings. It also covers advertising, product labels, websites, invoices, contracts and contract negotiations.
The ACCC has the power to force a business to substantiate that a price rise has been caused by the carbon tax. The guide explains what businesses can and cannot do, and provides a checklist to follow.
Dr Schaper said businesses must be sure price rises were "based on your own costs''.
Insult the Emperor and off with your head.
Please tell me this is a joke.
When a commie dictator tells you to bend over and take it you’re not allowed to tell anyone that a commie dictator told you to bend over and take it.
That’s in line with what communism is all about.
It certainly doesn't *look* like a joke.I read the Sydney Morning Herald on a semi-regular basis and from what I can tell this tax is *very* unpopular.Perhaps "naturalman1975",an Aussie member who I've pinged,might want to weigh in on this.He's right up to date on Australian politics and current events.
Affirmative, it is effectively speech control, and thought control.
It requires those that speak against leftist policy to have assembled, audited and recorded proof of truth, to the satisfaction of the leftie commissar or have their entire wealth confiscated.
In addition, price rises in all services and stock purchased by the individual are assumed to be NOT caused by carbon taxes, without the same proof (unavailable to the purchaser).
Notice that the LEFT and the public masters are NOT required to provide proof of ANYTHING they allege.
Not only Veee vil make you bend backwards, ve vil also determine that you love it.
My understanding is that Gilliard has a razor thin majority...two or three votes...and at least one of those votes is a "Green".I think I read someplace (the Sydney Morning Herald?) that that tax was enacted solely to keep that one "Green" on board so that Gilliard could stay in office.I certainly may have misread the piece or misunderstood what I was reading but if that's the case it doesn't speak well of Gilliard's ambition and lust for power.Of course we have that type here in the States...as anyone who's following Obabam's reelection campaign knows.
And BTW...what time is it there?? Something like 2AM??? Maybe that explains your typos! ;-)
100% serious. Leftists gone wild, in this case a Greens-Labor government.
There is no general constitutional protection of freedom of speech (or anything much else) in Australia, so anything that can get through parliament is the law of the land (unless it demeans illegal immigrants arriving by boat, in which case the High Court will strike it down).
This piece of garbage (the law) barely scraped through parliament, and is the responsibility of both an incompetent and malicious Prime Minister desperate to cling to power and of “independents” thinking they can engage with rabid leftists.
The Labor party didn’t win enough seats in the last election to retain government. Thankfully, the Greens had managed to get one (1) member of parliament elected, so their leader Julia Gillard, whose electorate is very blue-collar industrial with an oil refinery, a Toyota factory, small manufacturing, and logistics depots, naturally took all of two nanoseconds to throw her own constituents under the bus, climb into bed in with the Greens, and renege on an explicit campaign promise not to introduce a carbon tax.
Because that was what she had to do for her and The Party to cling to power, that’s what she did, her constituents be damned.
There are also a number of “independent” parliamentarians whose votes were needed for Labor to maintain power, and who could have stopped this insane, reckless government at any time in the last few years, but chose not to. They are equally culpable.
It’s not a joke - and to a certain extent I don’t think it’s unjustified.
The Carbon Tax is certainly not justified, nor is it a good idea, and it also represents a serious broken election promise and what is basically a lie by the Prime Minister.
But what this particular article is about, is about attempts to prevent dishonest business price-gouging consumers by raising prices simply to increase their own profits and lying to consumers by saying those rises are due to the carbon tax.
For a company to fall foul of these laws, they will have to lie to their customers. They are certainly permitted to raise their prices if they choose to - on the basis that the market will determine whether or not people are willing to pay the new price. If they are, the company will increase its profits. If they’re not, it will lose money. The market will decide the price. What they are not permitted to do is blame a price rise on the carbon tax unless the carbon tax is genuinely what has lead to the increase in price.
They can raise prices. They just can’t lie about the cause. If they claim that the carbon tax is what has lead to increased prices, they need to be able to demonstrate that - and it should not be hard if its true - if they can show their power bill has increased, for example, or the costs of raw materials they use has increased, it should be simple to show that that they are just passing that increase onto their customers.
The carbon tax is bad. Allowing companies to lie to customers to increase profits is also bad.
Absolutely accurate. At the last election, Labor won 72 seats, and the Liberal/National coalition won 73 seats, in the 150 seat House of Representatives, control of which determines who forms government - you need 76 seats in your hands on at least the basic issues of confidence and supply (the budget) to form a government.
One seat went to a Green, four to Independents. To form government, Labor had to get at least four of those five to support them, the Coalition had to get at least three.
Labor wound up forming government when the Green, and three of the four Independents went their way. At that point, one coalition MP chose to sit as an independent - he was prepared to be part of a Coalition government, but saw no value in remaining in coalition in opposition (a couple of weeks ago, he rejoined the coalition in a clear sign he expects them to be back in government soon - in case it sounds like he's disloyal, he's not really - his position is based on the will of his constituents, and of his state party, and everybody in the coalition understands the exceptional nature of his position and understood it prior to the election).
To get Green support, which she needed to take office, the Prime Minister had to agree to introduce the carbon tax she had categorically said she would not. That broken promise is the primary reason her government is in dire political straits.
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