Happy carbon-tax day: When Albertans ruefully ring in a new tax, don’t ignore the partisanship GlobeDebate
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney greets supporters at an anti-carbon tax rally in Calgary, Friday, Oct. 5, 2018. Numerous polls have consistently showed that the people most opposed to climate-change mitigation efforts, including a price on carbon, are Conservative supporters, Albertans, and rural Canadians.Duane Bratt is a political science professor and chair, Department of Economics, Justice and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary.
That’s how Albertans will protest the introduction of the federal carbon-tax backstop that kicks in on Jan. 1. The federal backstop, designed for provinces that do not have a price on carbon, replaces the previous Alberta carbon tax, which was introduced by former premier Rachel Notley’s government on Jan. 1, 2017, and was repealed by Jason Kenney government on June 5, 2019.
The fierce opposition comes with the belief that people are being penalized for driving to work and heating their homes. And it is true that the federal backstop will add another 4.4 cents a litre to your tank of gas . It should be noted that while natural gas also rises $1.05 per gigajoule, you probably won’t see pictures of homes being heated; instead, you will have to wait a month before people start posting their home heating bills on social media.
However, this outrage over the personal costs from the federal carbon-tax backstop is flawed for several reasons. First, more than 90 per cent of individuals will be receiving a carbon-tax rebate from the federal government. A single adult will receive a $444 annual rebate, and a family of four will receive $888. In fact, a majority of individuals will see a rebate cheque higher than the amount of carbon tax they will pay in a year.
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