A TAX TO MAKE ‘THE POLLUTER PAY ‘The Application of Pollution Taxes within the Australian Legal system Research Paper by Greg Hunt and Rufus Black {For submission in the subject of Natural Resources Law:CONTENTS Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3: chapter 4: chapter Chapter Conclusion. Introduction. 1.1 The Extent of the Pollution Problem. 1.2 Hypotheses. 1.3 Literature Review. 1.4 Significance of the Paper. Flaws in the Current Regulatory Regime. 2.1 Policy Formulation and Regulatory Structure. 2.2 Implementation and Enforcement. operation of the Pollution Tax. 3.1 Should the Market or the Legislature Decide which Level of Pollution is Acceptable? 3.2 The Economic Means by which the Tax reduces Pollution. 3.3 Legal Structure and Features of the Tax. 3.4 The Tax as a tool for Planning. 3.5 Spending the Revenue. problems and Limitations of the Pollution Tax. 4.1 Operational Problems. 4.2 Problems of Reception. : The Pollution Tax in Practice. 5.1 The New South Wales Approach. 5.2 Emission Charges in Operation Overseas. : Constitutional Features of the Tax. 6.1 Constitutional Problems with State Implementation. 6.2 Constitutional Issues involved in Commonwealth Implementation. 6.3 Should a pollution tax be imposed by the Commonwealth or the States? Bibliography.1. INTRODUCTION Industrial waste within Victoria is now regarded as a threat to both personal health and social prosperity, The scope of the problem casts grave doubt upon the efficacy of our current legal approach to waste management. In that contoxt, it is perhaps time to consider the introduction of pollution taxes one of the consequences of the political changes which have rocked Eastern Europe during the past year, has been the disclosure that the air, water and land resources of many regions have been fatally contaminated by toxic waste and industrial by products [FOOTNOTE] Painton, Frederick, "Darkness at Noon", Time, 9/4/1990, p.40 & 41.. The perception is that by comparison, Australian industry has been relatively benign in Sts effects upon the urban and natural environment. However, although the damage is thankfully not as dramatic as the "fishless lakes, dying forests and blackened citics" (FOOTNOTE) Ibid., p.41. of Poland, Czechoslavakia and Bast Germany, there is mounting evidence that routine industrial practice has discharged Gangerously high levels of pathogenic pollutants into Australia's commonly held natural resources. Thus, as Greenpeace toxics campaigner Simon Divecha says: "Toxic wastes have contaminated vast sections of Australia's environment, in some cases leaving areas unable to support any life.”