Administering Carbon Tax Program Has Cost Canadians Nearly $200 Million So Far, Government Records Reveal

A Torc Oil & Gas pump jack is seen near Granum, Alta., on May 6, 2020. (Todd Korol/Reuters)

The federal government has spent nearly $200 million on carbon tax paperwork since the introduction of the fuel charge in 2019, newly released government records show.

Records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) show taxpayers paid $82.6 million for the program in 2022, including salaries for 465 full-time employees. Between 2019 and 2021, those costs were $116.5 million.

“The carbon tax is a double whammy for taxpayers,” CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano said in a news release. “First, it makes our gas, heating, and groceries more expensive. And then we’re forced to pay higher taxes to fund [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau’s battalion of carbon tax bureaucrats.”

The documents, which were first reported on by Blacklock’s Reporter, show that 223 of the employees were tasked with collection of the tax while the remaining 242 worked on the Climate Action Incentive Payment, a credit program that Mr. Trudeau maintains offsets the rising prices of fuel and home heating.

The CTF noted that a report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer shows the average family pays $710 in carbon taxes, even after the government rebates.

Carbon Tax Costing Canadians

On top of tax costs, the carbon tax is contributing to the high cost of inflation, according to the Bank of Canada governor.

Recently, Tiff Macklem said that the carbon tax was contributing to inflation costs for Canadians. He told the House of Commons finance committee that if the government were to stop collecting the tax, inflation would drop by 16 percent.

Mr. Macklem provided this information while testifying on Oct. 30.

“That would create a one-time drop in inflation of 0.6 percentage points,” said Mr. Macklem in response to a question from Conservative MP Philip Lawrence.

In a Nov. 23 Angus Reid poll, 42 percent of Canadians said they wanted to see the end of the carbon tax. A poll from Abacus Data, meanwhile, found that 72 percent of respondents said Ottawa should exempt home heating, such as natural gas or propane, from carbon pricing.

Mr. Trudeau announced on Oct. 26 that his government would give a three-year carbon tax exemption on heating oil. The move came after Liberal MPs in Atlantic ridings voiced concern, saying their constituents could not afford to pay the carbon tax on heating oil.

The exemption applies to the 10 provinces and territories where the federal fuel charge is collected, although the change predominantly benefits Atlantic Canada, where 30 percent of homeowners still use furnace oil to heat their homes.

The carbon tax currently sits at $65 per tonne of carbon emissions but will increase to $170 per tonne by 2030.

Noé Chartier contributed to this report.

Canada News

Administering Carbon Tax Program Has Cost Canadians Nearly $200 Million So Far, Government Records Reveal

Carbon Tax Costing Canadians

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