FED:Garrett urges voters to avoid tax panic

AAP General News (Australia)
04-02-2011
FED:Garrett urges voters to avoid tax panic

CANBERRA, April 2 AAP - Federal government frontbencher Peter Garrett has urged Australians
to refrain from panicking about a carbon tax.

Labor is taking a political hit after Treasury modelling showed household bills could
rise by $863 a year.

The official minute, released on Friday through an opposition freedom of information
request, estimated how a $30-a-tonne carbon price would affect living costs.

It calculated that Australians would pay $608 a year more for utilities and food.

If petrol were included in a carbon price, household bills would rise by $863.

Still, Mr Garrett said the figures were not reliable enough to warrant panic.

"I would say to people not to take alarm at reports of one kind or another that appear
in newspapers or what they hear commentators or others talking about at this stage," he
told AAP on Saturday.

"The sorts of figures that are bandied about in these debates often times bear little
relation to the process that's under way."

The Salvation Army has criticised the government for not releasing more details about
the carbon tax, due to begin in July 2012.

But Mr Garrett said the multi-party climate change committee needed to do its job.

"Once that work has concluded, the government will continue to provide absolutely relevant
information to the Australian public," he said.

AAP saj/bm/nb

KEYWORD: CLIMATE GARRETT

� 2011 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.