Tough Opposition during Public Hearing on the Carbon Tax Bill

On Tuesday 12th of March 2019, several submissions were made to the Select Committee of Finance on the Carbon Tax bill for consideration by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) before taking a vote on the Bill. On the overall, most of the comments dealt with the anticipated social and economic impacts of the tax and practical matters concerning its implementation, including but not limited to the following:

• The impact of the tax on electricity prices and how this would eventually lead to increased cost of doing business in South Africa
• The promulgation of the Customs and Excise Amendment Act which is required for the Carbon Tax bill to take effect
• The alignment of the Carbon Tax with the Carbon Budget system as part of the Post-2020 Mitigation System and other climate change policies still in draft form or not yet formulated
• The state of readiness of government institutions to implement, develop and monitor the impact of the tax was questioned with regards to emissions baseline data and costs of administration of the tax to the tax payers, among others
• Ringfencing of carbon tax revenue and recycling to environmental programmes

The submissions are reflective of how complex the process to develop this bill has been. By all accounts, many of the issues raised were not new but nonetheless remain pertinent issues that business, NGOs, labour and industry associations require clarity on. However, the extent to which the issues raised would necessitate an amendment of the Bill remains to be seen, which will invariably have implications on when the bill is officially signed into law.