Posted on 07/17/2014 5:26:00 AM PDT by reaganaut1
SYDNEY (AP) Australia's government repealed a much-maligned carbon tax on the nation's worst greenhouse gas polluters on Thursday, ending years of contention over a measure that became political poison for the lawmakers who imposed it.
The Senate voted 39 to 32 to axe the 24.15 Australian dollar ($22.60) tax per metric ton of carbon dioxide that was introduced by the center-left Labor government in July 2012. Conservative lawmakers burst into applause as the final tally was announced.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott's conservative coalition government rose to power last year on the promise of getting rid of the tax, assuring voters that removing it would reduce household electricity bills. He plans to replace the measure with a taxpayer-financed AU$2.55 billion fund to pay industry incentives to use cleaner energy.
"Today, the tax that you voted to get rid of is finally gone: a useless, destructive tax which damaged jobs, which hurt families' cost of living and which didn't actually help the environment," Abbott told reporters in Canberra.
Australia is one of the world's worst greenhouse gas emitters per capita, largely because of its heavy reliance on the nation's vast reserves of cheap coal for electricity.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten lashed out at Abbott after the vote, dubbing him an "environmental vandal."
"Today, Tony Abbott has made Australia the first country in the world to reverse action on climate change," Shorten told reporters. "History will judge Tony Abbott very harshly for refusing to believe in genuine action on climate change. Tony Abbott is sleepwalking Australia to an environmental and economic disaster."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
They can be reversed.
I would like Bill Shorten to present his evidence that ending Australia’s carbon tax effects “global warming” in any measurable way.
Someone should do a study to determine how many trees die for every ton of carbon dioxide that gets removed from the atmosphere.
This agenda-laden “news” piece is an example of why I never pay attention to either the AP or the well-named Yahoo news.
But I can't stop myself from enjoying reading things like "Australia's government repealed(!) a much-maligned carbon tax..."
And few things go better with my morning coffee than reading that their carbon tax "became political poison for the lawmakers who imposed it."
Mmmmm...mmmm...good! Thank you, Lord, for some morning sanity!
Carbon based life forms taxing carbon while telling themselves that carbon dioxide, an essential ingredient for life on earth, is a pollutant?
Boy howdy, it doesn't get much dumber than that! Hey? Where can I get me some science around here?
Of course eliminating the carbon tax affects global warming. Just look at all of the hot air that the enviro leftists are emitting as a result.
The study has been done. Thanks to environmental nazis I know that I have to drive my SUV a full year to feed four acres of rainforest. If I stop driving my SUV, four acres of rainforest dies.
Good for Australia, and for keeping election promises.
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