Federal carbon tax needs to go

Many people are under the assumption that the carbon tax rebate is a wonderful thing that the federal government is providing for us. The rebate may cover the carbon tax that you have paid on your heating bill, however, do you not realize that it is covering only what you have already paid? If we had no carbon tax, you wouldn’t need a rebate. It most certainly does not cover all the carbon tax that is paid on everything else.

Carbon tax is charged on fuel and diesel that farmers use to grow crops, increasing costs on groceries; then carbon tax is charged to truck the crop to the mill or factory, increasing costs on groceries; then carbon tax is charged on the packaging, increasing costs on groceries; then carbon tax is again paid on the fuel to truck the food to the grocery store, increasing costs; the carbon tax is finally paid by the consumer on many items in the grocery store. The carbon tax is hidden in the rest of the items. It is not just the end product that the consumer pays carbon tax on, it is a multiplication of carbon taxes being added into the cost of goods and services. 

“Axing the tax” would reduce the costs of most, if not all, items consumers buy.

Another misconception is that the carbon tax is benefitting the environment. The tax does nothing for the environment. The tax goes into general revenues and is not used for environmental rehabilitation. It could be argued that the tax is designed to make people drive less. However, in rural Alberta in particular, this is not an option. Significantly, the parliamentary budget officer has determined that the carbon tax does nothing to reduce emissions. 

The carbon tax is a federal tax; until government changes, it will continue to grow as promised by the Liberals. 

Ruth Dyck, Bow Island