As the Federal election fast approaches, a very prominent election policy has been the carbon tax.

The carbon tax originally introduced by the Gillard government and became effective on 1st July 2013. The plan of the scheme required entities which produce over 25,000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide greenhouse gases to pay per tonne of carbon they released into the environment.

The cost was initially set at $23 and progressively increases until 2015, when we will change to a trading scheme that will allow the market set the charges. This was seen as the most effective and cost efficient to decrease carbon production and diminish the level of climate change that is happening.

In July, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced plans to transfer to a floating price scheme a year earlier, but Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott and the Liberal party have proposed to abolish the carbon tax aiming to cut emissions through “direct action” should they be elected on the September 7th election this weekend.