PEOPLE living in regional areas will face much bigger price increases under Labor's proposed carbon tax than those living in cities, according to Nationals leader Warren Truss.

“The oil industry, and even Labor's favourite climate change expert Professor Ross Garnaut, predict fuel prices will go up by 2.5 cents a litre for every $10 of a carbon price,” Mr Truss said.

“An opening carbon price of $26 per tonne will, therefore, mean an increase of 6.5 cents a litre.”

The Member for Wide Bay said the price rise would be higher in rural and regional areas because the current big price differential between urban and regional fuel prices was driven by the cost of transporting fuel to regional and rural pumps.

“The more remote the community, the bigger the price rise will be to cover the increased cost of transport – on top of the tax itself,” he said.

Mr Truss said there would be a price impact for every item that arrived in rural and regional areas by road.

He said the carbon price would start going up from the very beginning, but the rate of increase would be much faster once the government moved to full emissions trading, and as support for the commercial transport sector fell away.