April Fools: You’re paying more in Carbon Tax
On Monday, April 1st, Justin Trudeau played a cruel April fools’ trick on struggling Canadian families by hiking his Carbon Tax another 23%.
He did this despite 70% of Canadians and a growing majority of provincial premiers (of all political stripes) calling for an end to this failed policy.
The Liberal Carbon Tax is a tax on everything; gas, groceries, home heating, the list goes on and on.
Moreover, unlike the GST, the Carbon Tax is a not an end user tax but a compounding tax. That means, rather than pay once at the end, consumers get hit with the tax at every step along the way. As Conservatives keep saying: If you tax the farmer who grows the food, the trucker who ships the food, the store that sells the food, all those costs end up getting passed onto consumers. As such, rather than pay once, you are paying Carbon Tax at least four times on nearly everything you buy.
The only thing, it seems, that remains un-affected by Justin Trudeau’s beloved Carbon Tax is the environment.
That the Carbon Tax has made little to no difference to the environment should not surprise us. The whole thing is a scam. A smoke and mirrors sales job to cover up one of the biggest wealth redistribution tools in Canadian history.
Let’s look, once again, at the three main Government talking points about the Carbon Tax—points they continue to spew despite each one having been proven false time and time again.
One: “The Carbon Tax is putting a price on pollution.”
False.
The Liberal Carbon Tax is not—as the Prime Minster so loves to recite—“putting a price on pollution”. One of his government’s first acts in office was to authorize the city of Montreal to dump 8 billion liters of raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River. No price on pollution there.
Not a single emissions target has been met. It may interest Canadians to know the Liberal Government isn't even measuring how effective its Carbon Tax (and other environmental policies) are in reducing GHG emissions.
Those on the political left are correct that the tax is too low to force people to modify their behavior and leaves exemptions for large emitters. Those on the right are equally correct that taxing carbon in Canada is virtue signaling at best—as Canada accounts for a mere 1.5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—and in questioning the sanity of ignoring actual pollution while taxing a life-enhancing element of the very air we breathe.
Two: “Eight of ten Canadian families will receive more money back in rebates than they paid in.”
False.
As Rex Murphy pointed out, last April in the National Post:
“Name a tax that makes the taxpayer richer. What a strange incentive that would be. Half of Canada would be upping the thermostat, putting the air conditioner on in winter, and driving day and night to burn up oil and gas so that they could get more back than they put in. But the Liberals, desperate to sell this senseless curb on growth and industry had to confect some moronic twist of logic and reality to justify it.”
As the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has made clear, you are not getting more money back—hardly anyone anywhere is. In fact, by the time the tax is fully implemented in 2030, eight of ten households will pay exponentially more.
For example, Manitobans were already paying (on average) $502 more in tax than they were receiving in rebates before this latest hike.
No tax makes the taxpayer richer. Only the government. Which leads to the third talking point.
“The Carbon Tax is revenue neutral.”
False.
Even if we are to believe the principal of the taxes collected all goes toward rebates (a stretch to be sure), the Trudeau Liberals are charging GST on top of the Carbon Tax and that goes directly into the government’s coffers. They are making hundreds of millions of dollars off the Carbon Tax.
Moreover, a recent report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer shows the Trudeau Government is holding back billions in Carbon Tax (i.e. not paying it out in rebates or putting it towards environmental programs).
Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have lied from day one about their Carbon Tax scam.
What is true is this tax, like so many others, is costing Canadians more money at a time when most cannot afford it.
After eight long years, Canadians know this Prime Minister isn’t worth the cost and he isn’t worth the corruption.
Only Canada’s Conservatives remain committed to axing Justin Trudeau’s Carbon Tax and leaving more money in the pockets of the families it is currently hurting.
I applaud all the premiers—including here in Manitoba—who have had the courage to stand up to this failed Prime Minister and agree with our common-sense plan to axe the tax!
