In the U.S. policy debate, the British Columbia carbon tax is one of the go-to examples of (alleged) success. It supposedly exhibited a sharp fall in emissions while maintaining economic growth comparable to the rest of Canada
British Columbia’s Carbon Tax and “Leakage” Into the U.S.
In the U.S. debate over a carbon tax, one of the alleged smoking guns is the experience of British Columbia. The Canadian province established a C$10/ton carbon tax in 2008, which was ramped up gradually until maxing out at C$30/ton (or US$24/ton with current exchange rates) in July 2012. This works out to about 6.7 CDN cents per liter of gasoline, or about 21 US¢ per gallon. The tax is quite broad, with the BC government claiming its “carbon tax applies to virtually all emissions from burning fuels, which accounts for an estimated 70 per cent of total emissions in British Columbia.”
