Imperial Party forum

thomas davison

Carbon levy will be a 'stealth poll tax' on energy
The government's new carbon levy is effectively a �stealth poll tax� that will only work to put up household electricity bills and hand a windfall to old nuclear plants, the head of energy giant E.ON has warned.
Tony Cocker, chief executive of E.ON UK, attacked the policy on the eve of its implementation, arguing that it simply �pushes up the price for electricity� and should be scrapped.
Emily Gosden

By Emily Gosden

6:00AM BST 31 Mar 2013

The Treasury�s �carbon price floor� comes into effect on Monday and official estimates say it will add �5 to household bills this year, rising to about �50 by 2020.

The tax is intended to provide an incentive to invest in new wind farms and nuclear plants by making it more expensive to run coal and gas plants that emit carbon.

Tony Cocker, chief executive of E.ON UK, attacked the policy on the eve of its implementation, arguing that it simply �pushes up the price for electricity� and should be scrapped.

He told The Sunday Telegraph: �The carbon price floor is a tax and it�s pretty close to a stealth poll tax. It�s not based on ability to pay, it�s based on the requirement to keep warm and light your house.

�It was put in place with the stated objective of encouraging investment in low-carbon energy but it certainly doesn�t achieve that objective � it�s just a tax for the Exchequer.�
Related Articles

The measure is expected to raise billions of pounds for the Treasury over the next decade.

Mr Cocker criticised the lack of transparency over the tax. �It�s kind of hidden away,� he said. �If you called it an electricity tax or duty, like the fuel duty on cars, we could all understand that goes to the Exchequer.�

The carbon tax would also provide an unintended �windfall� subsidy for existing old nuclear and hydro plants, which is �completely unnecessary because it�s already been paid for�, he said.

European green policies already make polluting industries buy permits for each tonne of carbon they emit. However, the Government believes the prices have been too low and has introduced the carbon price floor to �top up� the cost per tonne of carbon dioxide.

But the tax has not proven enough to encourage new nuclear and wind power investors, with companies now being offered separate long-term subsidy schemes.

Because Britain is acting unilaterally in increasing carbon costs, critics say the tax will also have no effect on reducing carbon output.�If we charge more for carbon in the UK than is charged in Europe as a whole, all that means is we will burn less coal in the UK and the rest of Europe will burn more coal,� Mr Cocker said.

Manufacturers have called for the tax to be scrapped as they fear it will make British businesses uncompetitive compared with the rest of Europe. Ministers are planning a �150m compensation scheme to help compensate heavy industries.

On Friday, The Daily Telegraph revealed that newly appointed energy minister Michael Fallon had called the tax �absurd�. Mr Fallon has taken on a new role, as joint energy and business minister, working across the departments of Business and Energy in the hope of creating a unified approach.

In a meeting with business leaders in February, Mr Fallon, who at that point had not been given his new responsibilities, said that everyone would �have to pay� for the unintended consequences of the tax.

�This is a fairly absurd waste of your money, this situation we�re now in. Governments intervene in markets they don�t understand and there are consequences and we all have to pay for those consequences.�

Consumer groups have also called for the tax to be scrapped or for its proceeds to be used to help pay for energy efficiency measures. Companies such as EDF, which has a large existing nuclear fleet that is likely to benefit from the higher electricity price, have backed the policy, however.

Mr Cocker insisted his opposition to the carbon tax was not motivated by E.ON�s commercial interest, and said the impact on its power generation portfolio � which includes coal, gas and renewables � would be �relatively neutral�.

It will, however, serve to make E.ON�s Ratcliffe coal plant increasingly uneconomic to run. The company is considering options such as converting it to a biomass plant, which would burn wood instead of coal and be eligible for subsidies

his new carbon tax is just another socialist tactic to grow the public sector and make everyone pay a greater proportion of their income to the government. This new punitive tax is designed to force the utility companies to construct new efficient power stations, but this is what they would do anyway over a period of time. This new tax does not pass the smell test and our government should realise that we can see through their perverted way of thinking!
And as they chop the forests down to get subsidies we the people of this country and Europe suffer the type of weather we are getting now, the elephant in the room which is never mentioned is TREES that take the carbon and change it into oxygen for us to breathe. Greedy prats.

thomas davison · Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:34 am Post subject:

Latest green levy 'is a stealth poll tax on families and will account for an 8% rise on household bills'

The �carbon price floor� will ensure suppliers use less gas, coal and oil
Production of electricity from fossil fuels will lead to an 8% rise on bills
Tony Cocker, boss of E.ON UK, said it is �pretty close to a stealth poll tax'

By Sean Poulter And Tamara Cohen

PUBLISHED: 00:45, 1 April 2013 | UPDATED: 00:46, 1 April 2013

A green tax that comes into effect today will drive tens of thousands of families into fuel poverty, experts warn.

The �carbon price floor� is designed to ensure suppliers use less gas, coal and oil � but has been described as a �stealth poll tax� on individuals and businesses.

Analysts say the levy on the production of electricity from fossil fuels will account for an 8 per cent rise on household bills in just two years.
Increase: According to the Department for Energy and Climate Change, green taxes will have risen by more than 150 per cent by 2020, funding wind energy and other renewable schemes

The IPPR think that households will pay more than 10 per cent of disposable income on heating and lighting

It will raise billions for the Treasury, but a report from the Institute for Public Policy Research found it is likely to hit economic growth.

The IPPR estimates that the tax will push up to 60,000 more households into fuel poverty � when more than 10 per cent of disposable income is spent on heating and lighting � this year alone. This will rise to 90,000 a year by 2020, as the tax rises sharply in successive Budgets.

The think-tank predicts that wholesale electricity price will rise by around 17 per cent in three years due to the tax, which will equate to around an 8 per cent rise on energy bills.

CO2 is essential for life on Earth NOT an environmental toxin and any tax on CO2 is a tax on life itself.
The true problem is the cutting down of trees around the world, but the government cannot make any money for their friends for that.