The Prime Minister has announced the cost of his plan to terminate the carbon tax.

The Government estimates it will cost $3.8 billion over the next four years to move to an emissions trading scheme. Mr Rudd’s plan to switch to a floating price system a year early would lead to a reduction in the cost of living which could save an average family $380 a year from July 1 2014, he says.

The Prime Minister said households will continue to receive financial assistance. The cost will apparently be offset by new savings measures, including a change to the fringe benefits tax for employer-provided or salary-sacrificed cars, set to raise $1.8 billion.

Treasurer Chris Bowen said the Government is planning $3.9 billion worth of savings to pay for the change, including the scaling back of several environmental measures currently paid for by the tax.

The Opposition maintains the new plan is nothing but “flim-flam”, Tony Abbott has called it “a so-called market in the non-delivery of an invisible substance to no-one.”

Meanwhile recent research from The Climate Institute has found an increasing number of Australians believe climate change is happening, and most ill-will about the tax was over the Gillard government’s method of introducing it.