from Crikey ..... 

Want some facts to counter the carbon tax beat-up?

Check out this infographic, which compares the cost of the carbon price with other items of household expenditure.

I’m surprised that the ACCC hasn’t gone after the mad monk & his crazy mates, given the gross lies & distortions that they have propagated on this issue …. it really is testament to just how dumb the electorate is.

Meanwhile, Crikey has been keeping track on some of our wonderful business people, busy taking advantage of the carbon tax to screw their customers … some of the names might raise a few eyebrows …..

"We are doing an RRP (recommended retail price) review at present which is projected to be in line with CPI (Consumer Price Index), but take the opportunity to make some moves in June and July. Let the carbon tax take the blame, after all, your costs will be going up due to it."

Busted. Brumby's managing director Deane Priest is likely to face the wrath of the competition watchdog for his letter to franchisees - first reported by The West Australian overnight, and later obtained by our friends at SmartCompany - exposing how some businesses are using the carbon price to swindle a public already deeply sceptical about the tax.

But they're not the first. Crikey has unearthed a Tasmanian legal firm increasing its hourly rates because of the carbon tax (despite the fact the state is hydro-powered), insurance giant AAMI telling customers that premium rises are due partly to the carbon tax (and withdrawing that statement when challenged), and Gold Coast iPadaccessory firm CaseBuddy offering a discount for the code word "JULIAR".

Social media abounds with tales of pools levying a 20 cent "carbon dioxide tax", coffee prices up by 30 cents, claims of laundry bills rising significantly and widespread confusion around what electricity retailers are doing with their prices.

Lawyers have a reputation for charging like wounded bulls, so it's no surprise some are enjoying the carbon tax. Crikey hears a Tasmanian law firm is putting up its hourly rates to factor in the tax. Which is interesting, because Tasmania is mainly fired by hydro power, which will not cost more under the tax.

Our source, from the legal profession, has decided not to report the firm to the ACCC "as I imagine their private paying clients would do it themselves".

Crikey is seeking to have a chat to the firm in question; perhaps they have a large coal-fired power station in their backyard? We'll get back to you.

We hear that AAMI has raised prices on its home insurance policies by $200 in some instances, with customers told by AAMI staff that the carbon tax was among the reasons.

A Crikey journalist rang the AAMI call centre, identified themselves as a journalist and asked about the price rise. We were told staff had been given "a whole list of things" to tell customers the increases could be attributed to. The AAMI representative confirmed that the carbon tax was "of course" one of them.

The call then got passed up the line and Crikey ended up with this written response from AAMI's corporate affairs manager:

I don’t know who the AAMI representative was that you spoke to, but they were very much speaking out of turn and very much wrong.

We have not adjusted our pricing due to the Carbon Tax.

Yesterday's inaugural entry in CarbonWatch - where Crikey keeps tabs on surprising, amusing and downright dodgy retailer responses to the carbon tax - was Gold Coast i-Pod accessory firm CaseBuddy. The firm offered a discount to customers who used the code "JULIAR", in order to "celebrate the government’s tax on the fourth most abundant element in the entire universe".

CaseBuddy got back to Crikey to say it had scrapped the ad, and while "JULIAR" still netted a 10% discount, the alternative code of "CARBONFOOTPRINT" would attract double the discount, "as an apology".

There's plenty more fodder out there for CarbonWatch, with reports on social media of a local pool levying a "carbon dioxide tax" of 20 cents, coffee joints raising their per cup prices by 30 cents on Monday, and claims of laundry bills going up. Got a good tip of carbon tax-related price gouging or silliness? Let us know.

The carbon tax will push up prices in some sectors - that's what it's supposed to do. But using the tax as a front for price gouging and profiteering does the public no favours and should be exposed for what it is.

Opponents of the carbon tax have made a great deal out of accusing Julia Gillard of lying in bringing in the tax when she had promised, pre-election, that she wouldn't.

Hiking prices and blaming the carbon tax for it - well, that sounds like lying to us.