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Port Fairy-based electrician Ron Cashmore highlighted the impact of new taxes on refrigerant products that will result in the price of vat-cooling gas rise from $32 per kilogram to $85, based on conservative estimates. Wannon MP Dan Tehan said dairy farmers would be hit on several fronts by the tax, including an electricity cost of between $5000 and $7000 over this financial year along with higher refrigeration gas prices. "Dairy farmers are being forced to shoulder the burden of this unfair tax, a tax that will damage the industry and the economic stimulus it provides to our community. "You can't seriously justify a price rise of more than 200 per cent over only a few weeks," Mr Cashmore said. "That leaves the farmer more than $4000 out-of-pocket for no real reason. "One of the most common gases for dairy vats - R22 - used to sell for $32 per kilo retail a couple of months ago. "An average vat takes about 80 kilos of the product, so dairy farmers used to pay $2560 all up last year and now they'll pay $6800 for the same amount. Climate Change Minister Greg Combet last week criticised Coalition frontbencher Sophie Mirabella for making "inflated claims" about the impact of the carbon tax. "A Coalition government will get rid of this unnecessary tax, starting from day one if we are elected. "Last month, the same product went up in price to $60 and now this month it will rise again to roughly $85 per kilo. "Synthetic greenhouse gases which are used in many refrigerators are sometimes thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide in their impact on global warming," Mr Combet said in a statement. |
Tuesday 3 July 2012
200 per cent price hike
