The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Global-warming alarmists are calling for a Canada-wide carbon tax, saying it will be economically painless. But thatÕs nonsense. Recently, Liberal Leader Stphane Dion said he favours a national tax on energy to curb consumption. The theory is that if you tax something, you will get less of it. Carbon taxes are meant to get Canadians to use less energy, but all they will do is make us pay more. Quebec was the first Canadian jurisdiction to enact a Òcarbon taxÓ by charging just under one cent a litre. The provincial government had said business would pay the levy, which will raise about $200 million a year for green technology. Instead, the levy is passed on to the consumer. Costs will be even higher for families in B.C. The provinceÕs new carbon tax on all fossil fuels will hit consumers and businesses. The carbon tax begins at $10 per tonne and increases by $5 a year until it hits $30 a tonne in 2012. The levy will raise at least more than $15 billion by 2020. Gas sells in Vancouver today for about $1.19 per litre, whereas in southwestern Ontario the price is $1.09. The difference is due to taxes. B.C.Õs carbon tax means even higher pump prices, costlier home heating bills and more expensive products, including food. The B.C. government says it will be Òrevenue neutralÓ because it is lowering income taxes at the same time. But it isnÕt neutral for families. A two-income family earning $90,000 with two kids will save $85 this year in lower personal income taxes. Yet according to the B.C. budget, that same family will pay an additional $100 in gas taxes and another $35 in home heating costs. Higher energy prices will hit families with kids the hardest. And for what? B.C. Premier Gordon CampbellÕs goal is to reduce the provinceÕs CO2 emissions by 40 million tonnes by 2020. Yet the carbon tax policy is expected to reduce greenhouse gases by only about 7.5 per cent of the total. If the price of a 7.5 per cent reduction is more than $15 billion, taxpayers can only imagine what it will cost to cut the other 92.5 per cent. In 2000, the price of a litre of gas in Canada was 72 cents. Five years later, it jumped to 92 cents. Over that period, gas consumption increased 1.7 per cent a year. Today, the average pump price is roughly $1.12. ThatÕs a 55 per cent increase in eight years and people are still driving. Would Mr. Dion follow B.C.Õs example and implement a carbon tax that wonÕt alter behaviour? Or is this about sounding green and doing nothing in office? Canadians should hope itÕs the latter.
