Hefty lightbulb tax looms

Property owners who do not make the move to energy-saving light bulbs could soon be paying for a hefty R3 environmental levy per bulb.

This emerged when Finance Minister Trevor Manuel unveiled the 2009 National Budget in Parliament on Wednesday.

National Treasury would like to see the levy, which amounts to 1-3c/watt, implemented from October at the manufacturing level and on imports.

It said: "Energy-saving light bulbs last longer, require five times less electricity and result in lower greenhouse gas emissions."

The aim of the levy would be to promote energy efficiency and reduce electricity demand.

Other environment-oriented tax sticks suggested on Wednesday include increasing the levy on plastic bags from 3c/bag to 4c/bag and adjusting ad valorem excise duties on motor vehicles to incorporate carbon dioxide emissions as a criterion from March 2010.

[Use our simple MoneywebTax calculator to work out your income tax deductions for 2009, as well as what you're currently taxed.]

[Also see our BUDGET 2009: Pocket tax guide]

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CFL's All CFL's (compact flourescent lamps) contain mercury and so need to be properly recycled due to their containing mercury and other highly toxic substances in the tube, semi-conductors etc, any bets on whether that happens? So we will get what . .more we really need ..........more stupid people (in this case from mercury and other heavy metal poisoning) AND the cheapies from China etc DONT last as long as my OSRAM quartz halogen low voltage lamps!!!!!! Where do they get their 5 times figures from? I recommend stocking up on incandescents now! . .less by andrewa on February 11 2009, 16:45 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

B***** that, lets go the Zim route ...and use candles by Long Tom on February 11 2009, 18:06 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Eish It's one thing when energy-saving means improving efficiency (halogens); quite another when it means substituting something completely different (fluorescents). We just replaced 4 CFLs with incandescents because the quality of light was so bad . .more (the CRI, colour rendering index, for CFLs is terrible). We burn 4 times more energy but are at least 8 times happier now. Advocating replacing incandescents with CFLs is like advocating replacing ovens with microwaves: they save energy but they aren't the same thing. . .less by Eish on February 11 2009, 23:15 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

No incentive for home owners. The incentives for home owners are getting less and less. Thankyou Robin Hood!!! by willie@ on February 12 2009, 10:05 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

CFL It is true, try to work at one of these lights, it is seriously bad for your eyesight. So what do you do-add more lights, costs a fortune in the end and it is also true, the more affordable ones, DO NOT last as long as implied. by Sue on February 13 2009, 05:52 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

Epileptic Hi I'm an Epileptic and CAN NOT have ANY fluorescent bulbs in my house .... So, Mr. Manual, are you going to pay my medical bills ? by Ralph Colyn on December 12 2009, 18:03 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it

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