Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021

Toronto, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is sounding the alarm after the federal government released a report showing it collected hundreds of millions of dollars more in carbon taxes than it rebated last year.

“Anybody who has believed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s rhetoric on the carbon tax is being made out to look like a fool,” said Jasmine Moulton, Ontario Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “His government said it wouldn’t go up past $50 per tonne by 2022 and that it would put more money back into our pockets, but both claims have now been proven to be blatant falsehoods.”

The federal government’s Green House Gas Pollution Pricing Act Annual Report shows total charges collected and rebated in the four provinces where the federal carbon tax applies: Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

For Ontario, the report shows that the federal government collected $218 million more through the carbon tax than it rebated in 2019-20.

“We now know that the federal government took hundreds of millions out of Ontarians’ pockets through the carbon tax that continues to sit in government coffers,” said Moulton. “It’s now clear that the federal government had no clue just how costly the carbon tax would actually be to Ontario families.”

In addition to the $218 million the federal government failed to return in rebates last year, Ontarians also paid about $243 million in HST on top of carbon tax charges. That money is not being rebated.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in December that the federal government would be raising the carbon tax to $170 per tonne by 2030, after his environment minister promised during the 2019 election that “there was no intention for it to go up” beyond $50 per tonne in 2022.

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Jasmine Moulton

Ontario Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation

e. [email protected]

p. 416-573-5458