• New Costs of $1.5 billion per year for 111 power plants
• Tax cuts of $811 million shared by 365,649 Ontario businesses

TORONTO: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today released an impact analysis for Ontario businesses that would result from the implementation of the Liberal Party of Canada's proposed "Green Shift" carbon tax endorsed by Premier McGuinty. Ontario Director, Kevin Gaudet said "the Liberal carbon tax will cause a massive increase to the cost of power alone. Adding net new costs of $1.5 billion for power in Ontario will further damage an already struggling economy. Mr. McGuinty should withdraw his support of this tax scheme."

The CTF used 2007 data of carbon emissions from all power plants and power companies, published by the Center for Global Development through its Carbon Monitoring for Action Initiative.

The CTF research reveals that in the fourth year power costs will have grown by $1.5 billion per year for 111 power plants in Ontario alone. Meanwhile, Mr. Dion's carbon tax plan offers a 1% corporate and small business tax reduction by the end of four years, amounting to tax cuts of around $811 million to be applied to all Ontario businesses. The Statistics Canada business registry for Ontario lists 365,649 businesses to share the tax relief. "Presumably, all of these businesses would share that relief. Even if the relief went only to these 111 power plants, there would be a significant cost increase for them" added Gaudet.

Gaudet concluded, "Support for his federal party's carbon tax is only one of Mr. McGuinty's plans to curb carbon emissions - all of which will add costs to business. Others include a cap-and-trade program and a low carbon fuel initiative. They are going be very expensive and painful for businesses and families in Ontario who will be the ones left paying the bill. The CTF analysis doesn't even touch the tax impacts to energy-intensive businesses like the steel or automotive industries."

A summary of the impact analysis for the fourth year of the Green Shift is below:

A detailed list of all 111 Ontario power plants and power companies with their respective carbon emissions may be found HERE.

About Center for Global Development

The Center for Global Development (CGD) describes itself as an independent, Washington DC based, not-for-profit think tank that works to reduce global poverty and inequality by encouraging policy change in the U.S. and other rich countries through rigorous research and active engagement with the policy community.

About CARMA

The CGD initiative Carbon Monitoring for Action (CARMA) is a massive database containing information on the carbon emissions of over 50,000 power plants and 4,000 power companies worldwide. Power generation accounts for about 25% of global emissions. CARMA is reportedly the first global inventory of a major, emissions-producing sector of the economy.