Joe Hockey: More fear than cheer in Labor’s tax
EXCUSE me if I didn’t join the Labor cheer squad on the weekend.
Celebrating the imposition of a new tax – one we were told we were never going to have – seems inappropriate and wrong.
The Coalition wants no part of the carbon tax. Australians did not vote for it and the next election will be a referendum on its future.
It does not reduce Australia’s carbon emissions. Government modelling shows they will go up rather than down. Far from saving the planet, the proceeds of the carbon tax are being used to save the Gillard government as it panics and splashes dollars.
This is a tax that slugs households at every turn and, while the government boasts of overcompensation, consumers are rightly skeptical it will not keep up with rising prices.
Joe Hockey is shadow treasurer
