Govt ‘ill-advised’ to introduce carbon tax – Seifsa
At a time when government should be doing “everything possible” to stimulate the South African economy, it would be “terribly ill-advised” to burden the economy further by introducing a carbon tax, Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) CEO Kaizer Nyatsumba said this week.
Commenting on a joint statement by the departments of Environmental Affairs and Trade and Industry that they were finalising an approach to carbon tax, Nyatsumba said the State appeared more concerned about “squeezing” the economy to generate more tax income than it was about its underperformance and the growing “army” of the unemployed.
He stated that it was inevitable that the introduction of a carbon tax would further stifle the economy and render South Africa even less internationally competitive.
Nyatsumba suggested that South Africa, whose economic outlook had recently been downgraded by ratings agencies and the World Economic Forum, needed to follow the example set by Australia earlier this year, when it repealed its carbon taxes.
“Our view is simple: we cannot afford to constrain the economy even further at a time when more jobs need to be created by introducing a carbon tax when far more developed countries such as the US and Australia have not done so,” said Nyatsumba.
While Seifsa encouraged responsible corporate conduct and supported sustainability, the federation remained firmly of the view that there was no reason for South Africa, which contributed less than 1% of global emissions, to take the lead in climate change mitigation by being one of the few countries to introduce a carbon tax.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation