Most Canadians want carbon tax reduced or killed: poll
- Media Manager
- Sep 27, 2023
- 2 min read
Microsoft Start - National Post
Written By: Tristin Hopper
Published: September 28th, 2023
A new Leger poll finds that a clear majority of Canadians want the carbon tax reduced or eliminated entirely — and that nearly everyone thinks that federal plans for “net zero” are unrealistic.
Of respondents, 55 per cent wanted the carbon tax reduced (18 per cent) or abolished (37 per cent), while 27 per cent were fine to keep it as-is. A mere 18 per cent said they agreed with the current strategy of raising carbon levies each year.
While Alberta typically charts as the most anti-carbon tax jurisdiction in Canada, this time it was Atlantic Canada, where 48 per cent of respondents favoured total abolition of carbon pricing. The region first became subject to federal carbon levies on July 1, leading to a noticeable rise in fuel prices that spawned blanket opposition from all four Atlantic Canadian provincial governments.
The average Canadian is currently paying about 14 cents of carbon tax on every litre of gasoline, and 17 cents for every litre of diesel. That rate rises automatically every April 1 , adding roughly another three cents per litre each year.
And that’s in addition to a battery of other fuel taxes , including federal excise tax, GST, municipal transit taxes and provincial fuel levies. In the Vancouver area, for instance, the local carbon levy of 14.31 cents per litre is dwarfed by the 27 cents tacked on by the province and municipal authorities.
But it all adds up to Canadians paying the highest sustained prices for fuel in our history, with knock-on effects throughout the entire economy.
A March report by the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer determined that even after federal carbon tax rebates are factored in, by 2030 most Canadian households will be experiencing a net loss from carbon taxes.
In higher-income jurisdictions such as Alberta (where fewer households qualify for rebates), the net cost per household of carbon levies is already estimated at around $507.
The whole purpose of carbon taxes is to disincentivize the use of fossil fuels by making them more expensive.
