Posts Tagged ‘Tax’
The government has commissioned a broad-ranging review of the Tax system by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry. There is already speculation regarding the range of options Henry is considering.
The Henry Review released its consultation papers today. The review will consider the effect of taxation on the environment. About 25 submissions already [search] have made reference to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. A number of these have argued that tax concessions should be introduced to further reduce carbon emissions.
The consultation paper also noted that “[of] the submissions concerned about the environment, around a third are primarily concerned with the fringe benefits tax arrangements for motor vehicles”, the concern being that these arrangements encourage people to drive more.
There are three specific questions the consultation paper asks in relation to the environment:
“Q13.1 Bearing in mind that tax is one of several possible instruments that can address environmental externalities, what opportunities exist to use specific environmental taxes to address Australia’s environmental challenges?
Q13.2 Noting that many submissions raise concerns over unintended environmental consequences of taxes and transfers, such as the fringe benefits tax concession for cars, are there features of the tax‑transfer system which encourage poor environmental outcomes and how might such outcomes be addressed?
Q13.3 Given the environmental challenges confronting Australian society, are there opportunities to shape tax‑transfer policies which do not currently affect the environment in ways which could deliver better environmental outcomes?”
You can make submissions to the review anytime until 1 May 2009.
