Levy to cost up to 21,000 jobs

THE carbon tax will cost up to 21,000 jobs in Queensland by the end of the decade.

THE carbon tax will cost up to 21,000 jobs in Queensland by the end of the decade, heading a list of claimed costs to the economy set out in the state budget.

Modelling jointly undertaken by state Treasury officials and Deloitte Access Economics, based on the commonwealth's underlying assumptions, estimated that in 2020, state economic growth would be reduced by between 0.4 per cent and 2.8 per cent on what it would have been without a carbon price.

Employment would be between 3000 and 21,000 positions lower, Queensland claims.

The budget papers note that 77 of the 314 potentially liable entities for the carbon tax operate solely in Queensland, ranging from energy and resource supplies to state-owned utilities and local councils.

The cost of carbon pricing to the Queensland government was estimated to be $1.2 billion over the next four years, mainly because of higher expenses and reduced dividends from state-owned generators.