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John Kehoe

Tax carbon, but don’t gamble on green energy ‘superpower’

There is a much more sensible model that won’t hurt Australia’s international trade competitiveness and won’t punish households.

John KehoeEconomics editor

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Economic veterans Ross Garnaut and Rod Sims are pressing the government for a $100 billion carbon tax on fossil fuels to transform Australia into a clean energy “superpower”.

If Australia is going to reduce carbon emissions in a lower-cost way, a broad-based price signal on carbon is required. You can be an economic rationalist without being a climate change evangelical to believe in a carbon levy that returns the revenue to taxpayers.

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John Kehoe is economics editor at Parliament House, Canberra. He writes on economics, politics and business. John was Washington correspondent covering Donald Trump’s first election. He joined the Financial Review in 2008 from Treasury. Connect with John on Twitter. Email John at jkehoe@afr.com

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/tax-carbon-but-don-t-gamble-on-green-energy-superpower-20240227-p5f85e