British Columbia introduces carbon tax; drivers, homeowners pay, industry not so much
Carole Taylor, Finance Minister of Canada's western-most province (British Columbia) delivered the provincial budget on Tuesday and introduced what would be the first carbon tax in North America. The tax will be applied to fossil fuels used for driving and heating at $10 per tonne of greenhouse gases emitted. That will amount to roughly 9.1 cents per U.S. gallon on gasoline starting on July 1 of this year. That amount will gradually rise to $30 per tonne in 2012. The $1.85 billion raised by the new tax will be offset by cuts in income and business tax rates. Unfortunately the tax is only expected to reduce the province's greenhouse gas emissions by about 4.5 percent, at best. BC Priemer Gordan Campbell had promised to reduce emissions by 33 percent by 2020. Why the disconnect? Industrial emissions like the methane from industrial farms and landfills and emissions from oil and gas producers - which make up a third of the carbon output of the province - are left untouched. Even the 7.4 cents tax per liter of gasoline in 2012 is not likely to have a great deal of impact on peoples behavior when prices regularly swing more than that anyway. At least someone has taken a first step, even if it is a baby one.
[Source: Financial Post, thanks to Mike for the tip]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 8:55PM (2/20/2008)
Oh, the transfer of wealth from the stupid continues.
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Dave S 5:19AM (2/21/2008)
Taxing heat in Canada? Brilliant way to raise funds. May as well tax plaid pants on Golf Courses. My question is: Will you repeal taxes on wool sweaters and cold medicine for the elderly?
Talk about a regressive tax, this one penalizes the COLD. In CANADA. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to put a tax on air conditioners?
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L.Wood 9:50AM (2/21/2008)
It is about time British Columbia did something about the global warming that has been ravaging the region. The region is so ravaged that their global warming has been spilling over into the Pacific Northwest. The havoc and destruction has been stunning to see. This morning when I got up it must have been 31 degrees on my back deck. At this point in time only punitive taxation can save us from certain death.
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Rick 4:56PM (2/22/2008)
I'm not Canadian but is "tonne" a "ton"?
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Sam Abuelsamid 6:27PM (2/22/2008)
It's a metric tonne, 1,000 kg or about 2,200 lbs
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wxalexander 11:04AM (2/23/2008)
Would it not be more appropriate to use this $1.8 billion to finance the construction of the remaining hydro sites in BC plus pumped storage sites for wind and tide power located on the sea lochs along the BC west coast. Lets face, it all energy is going to be supplied to consumers in the form of electricity. With my current nat gas water heater efficiency at 55% and an electric water tank efficiency at 98% it is already cheaper for me to heat water with electricity at current prices. I recon my water heater for the entire house operates at 45% and I have installed some baseboard electric heaters to reduce
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wxalexander 11:16AM (2/23/2008)
I forgot to add, one gigajoule of nat gas is equivalent to 277Kw of electrical energy both at 100% efficiency. Do the calculation your self.
cost/gigajoule in cents divided by appliance efficiency = the cost of 277Kw of electrical energy. For example
One Gigajoule costs 1290 cents. My water tank has an efficiency ( on the label ) of 55%. Therefore 1290/.55 = 2345 =cost of 277 Kw. Cost of Kw = 8.5 cents with nat gas. BC hydro price 7.0 cents/Kw. With the carbon tax nat gas price will go up much more than hydro power
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