Czechs approve taxes on carbon permits, solar
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC - The lower house of the Czech parliament approved taxes on solar power and carbon dioxide emissions allowances granted to electricity firms as a response to a boom in expensive solar energy.
The government aims to stem fast expansion in solar plants, which enjoy high price tariffs that power distributors must pay for solar power, with a 26 percent tax on solar power revenues.
A separate tax charging traditional electricity makers 32 percent of the value of carbon emissions permits granted to them for free in 2011 and 2012 is aimed to raise revenue to subsidize power prices raised by the rising proportion of solar power in the overall energy mix.
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The German economy used to be the envy of the world. What happened?
BERLIN - Germany went from envy of the world to the worst-performing major developed economy. What happened?
For most of this century, Germany racked up one economic success after another, dominating global markets for high-end products like luxury cars and industrial machinery, selling so much to the rest of the world that half the economy ran on exports.
Jobs were plentiful, the government’s financial coffers grew as other European countries drowned in debt, and books were written about what other countries could learn from Germany.
No longer. Now, Germany is the world’s worst-performing major developed economy, with both the International Monetary Fund and…
