Funny business at the cash register

Funny business at the cash register

Shoppers will be able to call a special ACCC phone number to complain about unreasonable price increases blamed on the carbon tax.

In years past, tens of thousands of people reportedly weren’t afraid to pick up the phone and dob-in-a-tax-cheat.

Now Australians are being invited to dob in a business if they suspect them of raising prices by unreasonable levels and blaming it on the carbon tax.

People spotting what they spot what they think are false price claims about the carbon tax will be able to ring 1300 303 609, a number the ACCC is calling its Carbon Price Claims Hotline. There is also a carbon tax complaint form here.

The form asks the complainant to list the name of the business, their address, website and phone number, among other details.

It will be interesting to see whether complaints increase after the carbon tax comes into play on July 1. We spoke to the ACCC’s media officer Duncan Harrod today, who told us the watchdog has received approximately 300 complaints so far about price increases, but pointed out that this compares to some 160,000 complaints the ACCC receives every year across all areas of its operations.

"A business that makes a good faith, reasonable approach to calculating the carbon price for their business has nothing to fear from the ACCC," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said in a media statement.

Will Australians be willing to complain about the price of beer, if the bottle shop blames it on the carbon tax? Add your comment below.

Source: Copyright © BIT (Business IT). All rights reserved.

See more about:  carbon tax  |  carbon  |  tax  |  accc  |  hotline  |  complaint
 
 

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