While the link between a carbon tax & the restaurant industry may appear tenuous, it is very real & apparent. Most industries rely on coal, which is used for energy, as it powers them directly or powers their distributors who deliver the items they ultimately bring to market.
So in the restaurant industry, the carbon tax will make it more expensive to ship weekly supplies likepaper napkins, disposable coffee cups & all types of food to restaurants. The higher the expense to move these items, the more delivery companies will charge, making the base cost of the items more expensive. When the base cost of an item goes up, so will the price of food in the restaurants, making consumers feel the impact directly.
Beyond the higher prices in restaurants, consumers will also feel the impact of the carbon tax on their electrical bills. This means they will be spending more money to pay for the electricity they use in their everyday lives, meaning less money to spend out of pocket. When this occurs, there are fewer people eating out, which means fewer customers for restaurants in general. In order to bring in more customers, restaurants may be inclined to lower their prices, meaning either less money for those who run the restaurants or just a lower quality of the food itself.
Another way the carbon tax affects restaurants is the cost of making the food in the first place. A lot of energy is needed for farms and slaughterhouses around the country and the carbon tax will drive the cost of production up, as well as the cost of delivery. Both of these aspects will make the cost of food more expensive for restaurants to serve. However, there will be tax breaks for certain small businesses who make less than $2m pa, which could help those small restaurants to survive the cost blowout caused by these new taxes..
The higher tax on manufacturing in Australia will also lead to an influx of foreign imports, encouraging every industry, including the restaurant industry, to look outside of Australia for supplies and even ingredients, as they may be able to find it for cheaper when it is brought in from outside of the country. How this will really impact the Australian economy has yet to be seen, but most people agree that the carbon tax may be good for the environment but not very helpful for Australian business.
