REDLAND City Council is yet to determine how Thursday’s Senate decision to abolish the carbon tax will be passed on to the city’s 67,000 ratepayers.
The Senate voted 39 to 32 to axe the $24.15 tax, levied on each metric ton of carbon dioxide and introduced in July 2012.
Mayor Karen Williams said any savings would go to residents or be reinvested in the city but it was still too early to determine how much and how it would be returned.
She said after the tax was introduced in 2012, council calculated it added about $17.50 to each ratepayer’s bill but about $2million to the city’s operating costs.
She defended the council’s stance of not nominating an exact rebate figure, unlike Brisbane council, which promised to refund ratepayers $36 in the October rates notice and keep future rates increases lower.
“The $17.50 figure was one of the costs we could actually measure when the tax was introduced in 2012 but we tried to absorb most of that anyway,” she said.
“There was a direct cost of about $1.2million but further indirect costs brought that up to about $2million.
“It’s too early to know how much ratepayers will save because it depends on how much of the current costs suppliers will be required to pass back to council.
“But council will pass on savings through budget reviews over the coming year as the repeal of the tax is expected to reduce our costs.”
Cr Williams said she wrote to Treasurer Hockey to seek clarification on the details and timeframes for the carbon tax rebates to local authorities.
BOWMAN MP Andrew Laming, in Canberra when the Senate repealed the legislation, initially warned Redland taxpayers not to expect household savings of $550, as touted by Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
"It will be $550 lower than it otherwise would be, but if other elements have made prices go up by $100 then you won't see a $550 fall on any bill," he said.
"But you'll be $550 better off than you otherwise would have been, and that's a very important caveat."
However, after the legislation was repealed, Mr Laming said households could expect drops of about $200 on the average household electricity bill and about $70 on the average gas bill.
“Queensland Competition Authority figures showed abolishing the tax would lower electricity bills for a family by between $174 and $240 a year,” Mr Laming said.
“Small businesses will save between 7 and 10 per cent on their power bills.”
Mr Laming said businesses servicing island communities were “big winners” as a excise credit on diesel fuel will rise 7c a litre to 38c a litre, which is what it was before the tax was introduced.
“Operators bore the full financial burden of the Carbon Tax and fuel excise decrease without passing it on to passengers,” he said.
“If the carbon tax was not repealed there would have been a financial pressure to increase ticket prices while these companies struggled with rising costs of diesel."
