Carbon tax to hit just 400 polluters

First it was thought the carbon tax would apply to 1000 of Australia's biggest polluters, then it was 500, and now the climate change department says it's "more like 400".
The federal government wants to introduce a carbon tax on facilities that emit more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon pollution each year from mid-2012.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard originally said the price would be paid by the top 1000 polluters in the country.

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But when the $23-a-tonne carbon price was announced in July, that figure was cut in half.
"Around 500 of the biggest polluters in Australia will be required to pay for their pollution under the carbon pricing mechanism," the government's policy documents released on July 10 state.
Now the figure has been revised downwards again.
"Under the previous package [Kevin Rudd's carbon pollution reduction scheme] the number that we thought was going to be in the system was more in the order of 700," Climate Change Department secretary Blair Comley said on Wednesday.
"[Now] the number of emitters that we think will be covered is more in the order of more like 400."
Mr Comley was giving evidence in Canberra to a parliamentary inquiry into the proposed carbon tax.
The change of scope was due to the differing treatment of liquid fuels and synthetic gases under Ms Gillard's carbon price mechanism, he said.
But the 400 figure is somewhat rubbery.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/carbon-tax-to-hit-just-400-polluters-20110810-1imil.html#ixzz1UzpjdLOc