Perhaps you are misunderstanding the carbon tax...
Environmental taxes encourage consumers to conserve energy or switch to less carbon-intensive fuels.
theconversation.com
Even if you didn't get it all basically back at tax time, the price per litre has 4.4 cents worth of Federally imposed carbon tax.
I believe B.C., or at least Vancouver,
chose to impose an 8.9 cent carbon tax. They also have a transit improvement tax of about 17 or 18cents added to the price. Federal carbon tax does not explain the amount of discrepancy you perceive.
and...
Canada’s federal carbon tax increases on April 1. Here’s what you need to know about carbon pricing, how it works and why it is a signature part of Ottawa’s plan to fight climate change
www.theglobeandmail.com
This is not directed at you specifically VR, you just happened to be the guy to post it. I'm merely discussing it.
The problem I have with the carbon tax is who it hits the hardest.
Basically, the poorer end of our society bears a disproportionate amount of the burden. Wait, what? Aren't we all paying the same percentage? We sure are, but it's the absolute number dollars in pocket at the end of the day that matters, not "percentages". Allow me to explain my reasoning before everyone explodes:
A carbon tax is a tax, no different than if it were GST or HST. Now, for arguments sake, lets say it might make a 10 dollar difference in a fill up (empty to full tank).
For a family making 150,000 or 200,000 (or even more), 10 (or even 20) bucks more on a tank fill is essentially irrelevant. So those with reasonable wealth don't care that it adds a few bucks to the tank and it doesn't really dissuade them from burning the same (or more) amount of fuel as they did before. get into the "1%-ers" and they really don't give a flying fig if it costs another 10 bucks to fill their hummer or another 500 to fill their private Gulfstream jet. The only time that demographic cares about the dollars is when it starts impacting their
personal bottom line and/or dividends. Then they start screaming about increasing prices if they're in retail holdings or looking for better/other investments if they are in the financial market. In a nutshell, they pass the costs on to those least able to bear them (again) and then they jump on their private jet and head to the Bahamas for the winter (or where ever they go).
But a family living on 30,000/40,000/50,000 a year or a retiree (and that's before tax) sure as hell notices it now costs them 10 bucks more a week to go back and forth to work, take the kids to school or try and take a family vacation. The harder it is for those families to buy fuel, the more likely it will only be used for back and forth to work. So what you say? They drive less, that's the purpose of the carbon tax, right? Well, what if you couldn't afford to take your kids to soccer, or head over a few towns to take them to their league hockey game?Sure, they may drive less, but we're only making the less affluent parts of our society even less affluent. The argument may exist that they get it back at tax time, but that doesn't change the fact that through the year, they either had to go without or scale things back significantly. Lots of families live in the 30-50,000 a year range, I personally know lots of them. Just honest people trying to get by and raise a family. And for these families, not going to work isn't an option. They
have to fuel the car in order to go to work. Most places where the economy is depressed, you have to use private transportation as public either isn't available, or not available/limited where you live.
Now what about businesses? They are going to burn the fuel they have to in order to keep the business alive. The difference here is that businesses won't be bearing the increased costs of fuel, they are going to build it into the prices they charge. So what you say? Well, once again, those people on the upper end of the wage scales don't care if meat or clothes go up a buck or two. It means nothing to them, at least not enough to cause them any hardship. But now consider those making 50,000-ish a year and supporting a family on it. Or a retiree on a fixed income. The change on a grocery bill or buying school clothes becomes even more painful than what it was. When you don't have a lot of money to start with, you watch every dollar and it really hurts when someone takes more of them away. Increased costs of good due to increased transport costs are a financial impact of the carbon tax that Canadians
WON'T be getting back at tax time. But businesses may be getting it refunded, even though they had already passed on those costs. Played right, the carbon tax could end up being a boon to businesses. But once again, the lower end of Canadian wage earners bear a higher degree of difficulty. Its like a double whammy if you're struggling just to get by.
No, I don't agree with a "carbon tax". Not because it hurts Alberta (or any other province for that matter), but because it makes life harder for those Canadians who are in the worst position to bear the costs.
The proponents of the carbon tax can spin it any way they want, I see it as one more sign of how disconnected the PMO is from the average Canadian. If they really wanted to reduce carbon output, they wouldn't be taxing Canadians and lining the coffers even more than they do now, they would be funding programs and subsidies to help move Canadians off fossil fuels while at the same time funding the advancement of those alternative energies.
No, a carbon tax is not a climate initiative. It s a
TAX, plain and simple. A way to flow more money into the coffers while enabling the gov't to point at something and say they're making progress on the climate change issue. And as it always is, the biggest hardship is born by those least able to sustain it.
For the record, I'm not "anti" climate change. I know the science and I believe it. I also believe we have to do something (and soon) to try and arrest it, or at least slow it. But a "Carbon tax" is not it.....not by a long shot. This is a serious problem we have to find a way to deal with. A Carbon tax is the old way of dealing with something. like this. It's outdated, ineffective and hurts the most vulnerable parts of our society. But it is an easy thing to do and something the Gov't can point to an scream "we're doing something, vote for us!". Climate change is a new problem, and a huge problem at that. It demands new and innovative thinking to handle it. A carbon tax accomplishes non of those things, it just collects money and makes life more difficult for those Canadians who don't have the capacity to absorb the increased costs....
"Sunny ways" anyone?