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Now that the Coalition has won the federal election, presuming they can get past the senate, the carbon tax should be repealed in the near future.
Since Virgin have not actually passed on the tax to customers, as far as I can see, I would not expect any change in fares from them.
However, Qantas has passed the tax on to customers. If, and when, the tax is repealed, do you think they will:
a) Drop fares to reflect the full saving of not charging the carbon tax, i.e. to pre-tax levels.
b) Drop fares only slightly
c) Keep fares as is, pocketing the saving from no carbon tax.
I personally think we need to look after the environment but I don't see how the carbon tax has actually achieved this in any substantial way. People still fly, but they have had to pay more to do so with Qantas, and in Virgin's case, the only effect has been a loss to Virgin's shareholders and no change in environmental impact.
Since the carbon tax came in, I have found it difficult to justify paying extra for Qantas to offset my carbon emissions, since the carbon tax is already included in the price. However, I would be more than happy for the carbon offset to even be included in the price, if the carbon tax wasn't there. In many cases, the carbon offset cost is less than $2/flight (I paid 77c for it when I last booked a CBR-SYD flight), but the carbon tax has added significantly more than that to the cost of the ticket. If the carbon offset pays for the carbon emissions from the flight to be completely offset, as it says, then it seems to me to be an effective way to look after the environment.
So, my suggestion to Qantas is this: Remove the entire cost of the carbon tax from the ticket price, but include the carbon offset in the price. This would, presumably, decrease the cost of the ticket overall while actually doing something for the environment.
What do others think?
Since Virgin have not actually passed on the tax to customers, as far as I can see, I would not expect any change in fares from them.
However, Qantas has passed the tax on to customers. If, and when, the tax is repealed, do you think they will:
a) Drop fares to reflect the full saving of not charging the carbon tax, i.e. to pre-tax levels.
b) Drop fares only slightly
c) Keep fares as is, pocketing the saving from no carbon tax.
I personally think we need to look after the environment but I don't see how the carbon tax has actually achieved this in any substantial way. People still fly, but they have had to pay more to do so with Qantas, and in Virgin's case, the only effect has been a loss to Virgin's shareholders and no change in environmental impact.
Since the carbon tax came in, I have found it difficult to justify paying extra for Qantas to offset my carbon emissions, since the carbon tax is already included in the price. However, I would be more than happy for the carbon offset to even be included in the price, if the carbon tax wasn't there. In many cases, the carbon offset cost is less than $2/flight (I paid 77c for it when I last booked a CBR-SYD flight), but the carbon tax has added significantly more than that to the cost of the ticket. If the carbon offset pays for the carbon emissions from the flight to be completely offset, as it says, then it seems to me to be an effective way to look after the environment.
So, my suggestion to Qantas is this: Remove the entire cost of the carbon tax from the ticket price, but include the carbon offset in the price. This would, presumably, decrease the cost of the ticket overall while actually doing something for the environment.
What do others think?
