Trudeau's decision to tax Canadians into submission is likely to achieve many things: it will strain the budgets of millions of Canadian households; Devastate Canadian businesses; Fill government coffers with billions of dollars s
A Carbon Tax Will Cost Canadians Billions. What Will We Get For It?
(This column originally appeared in the National Post Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this month his government would move to impose a minimum price on carbon (i.e., a carbon tax) on any province or territory that did not voluntarily do so by 2018. The question most Canadians are asking is: how much will this new tax cost us?
Figures will vary by household and province, but by 2022, when the tax will be a minimum of $50 a tonne, the average Canadian household could face $2,569 in new taxes. This, pro-carbon taxers insist, is necessary to reduce Canada's carbon emissions. After all, climate change is a global issue. Surely Canadians must do their part to help solve the problem.
On the surface, this argument is extremely appealing. And sometimes, sacrifices must indeed be made in the service of an important objective. But to get a sense of just how much Canadians' sacrifices will help in achieving the goal of fighting climate change, it's worth unpacking the numbers.
