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B.C.'s carbon tax isn't working, says Canadian Taxpayers Federation

gas-pump
Gas pump. (via The Canadian Press)

B.C.'s carbon tax has failed in its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).

Using the province's own data, the CTF says emissions have gone up 10 per cent over past three years, and have climbed five of the last seven years.

The Taxpayers Federation is calling on the province to cancel the tax "because it’s not working."

“When this carbon tax was first hatched, we were told it would make emissions go down, but the opposite is happening, emissions are going up,” says B.C. director Kris Sims. “The only thing this carbon tax is doing in B.C. is costing us all more to drive to work, drop our kids off at school and heat our homes. The carbon tax is nothing but a cash grab yanked out of the wallets of working people.”

The highest carbon tax in Canada put more than $1.4 billion in provincial coffers in 2018.

The data, shows B.C.’s emissions at 67.9 million tonnes in 2018. That’s up from 65.8 million tonnes in 2017 and up from 64.4 million tonnes in 2016. 

“When Premier John Horgan was in the opposition benches, he railed against the carbon tax, saying it would cost people too much to drive their cars and heat their homes,” said Sims. “Back then, NDP leader Carole James called the carbon tax ‘lipstick on a pig.’ They were right about the carbon tax back then – and they should do the right thing now and axe the tax.”

At $40 per tonne, the carbon tax adds an extra 8.9 cents per litre of gasoline and an extra 10.2 cents per litre of diesel. The tax also adds 7.6 cents per cubic metre of natural gas, and often costs residential customers more than the actual fuel. 

Over the past three years government data also shows emissions increasing by:

  • Four per cent for gasoline-powered cars
  • 19 per cent for gasoline-powered pickup trucks
  • 46 per cent for light-duty diesel trucks
  • 51 per cent for railways