Carbon tax to hit Brisbane ratepayers

Brisbane ratepayers will bear the burden of the council's $15.8 million carbon tax bill, the lord mayor says.

Australia's largest council says the average rates bill will jump by an estimated 1.9 per cent in the 2012/13 financial year.

That's more than the total average rates increase in last year's budget of 1.79 per cent, Lord Mayor Graham Quirk says.

Mr Quirk announced the council's carbon tax bill ahead of Prime Minister Julia Gillard's arrival in Brisbane on Tuesday for an economic forum.

The forum will discuss public policy reforms including the carbon tax, which takes effect on July 1.

Brisbane City Council is considered one of the country's top 250 polluters.

Mr Quirk says that's because the council runs a large landfill site and public transport system.

"There is no way council can absorb the full cost of this tax; it's an additional cost," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"We are left with a choice of reducing further services to cover it and that's not an option, so the carbon tax's impact on rates alone will be significant."

He says he expects the tax will cost an average of $36.60 per ratepayer.

Council will hand down its budget next week.

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