Image: From “Stock and Land.”

One of the favorite methods by governments of making ‘savings’ as they call it is to use every device possible to extend the reach of existing taxes. The rationale behind this is seen in the term; “revenue forgone,” which describes any money left in the taxpayer’s pockets that could have been more effectively looted had a little more thought gone into the process.

The carbon tax was promoted as a ‘tax on the nations biggest polluters'; those so called stinking coal and iron ore miners, power stations, oil companies and industrialists, by the Canberra snake oil salesmen. Now we are finding out that the big polluters include many local councils, which will be up for substantial hits under the tax.

Councils irresponsible enough to be situated in a disaster area cop a double whammy in having property destroyed, and paying additional carbon tax:

RESIDENTS of areas hit by natural disasters such as cyclones and storms could face carbon tax bills for the greenhouse emissions arising from rubbish created by the disaster, a Senate estimates hearing was told yesterday.

The revelation came as the government released a list of 104 local councils it believes may have to pay the tax because of the carbon emissions from rubbish dumps, 46 of which are in NSW and 21 in Victoria.

Queensland Liberal senator Ian Macdonald quizzed officials from the Department of Climate Change over claims by the Cassowary Coast Regional Council in Queensland that it faces a carbon tax bill of about $2 million to cover the waste from cyclone Yasi in February last year.

Under the carbon tax, due to start July 1, rubbish dumps, some of which are privately run but many of which are operated by local councils, will pay for emissions released when rubbish is burnt or decomposes, if those emissions total more than 25,000 tonnes a year. …

Meanwhile, Barnaby Joyce points out that most of the burden from local authority carbon taxing is borne by regional areas:

The price of lawn clippings (as determined by Mr Wayne Swan)

Questioning in Senate estimates has revealed that over 75 per cent of the 112 local governments liable to pay the carbon tax are in regional Australia. There is now an Orwellian concept that all rubbish is bad but some rubbish is worse, most specifically regional rubbish. This to most is a load of rubbish.

We must now have naughty lawn clippings and good lawn clippings. Naughty lawn clippings come from Roma, good lawn clippings come from the Botanical gardens in Sydney. You can tell by just looking at them that they are bad.

Yesterday the government provided the Senate with a list of 104 councils that may be liable for the carbon tax, this in addition to the 8 councils that were identified earlier this month. 89 of these 112 councils are located outside capital cities. Most councils will be liable due to the emissions from landfill sites.

This tax is not just an absurd impost on the cost of living of all Australians it also completely unfair that some councils pay the tax and others don't. Are we now to have signs that "This tip is cooling the planet" and "This tip is not cooling the planet?”

Labor's action of amalgamating Queensland's local authorities thus making them bigger targets, is going to cost us dearly because of this, on top of what it already has.