Letter: How much will axing the tax cost you? It’s quite easy to figure out.
By Letter to the Editor on October 23, 2024.
Dear editor, The Carbon Tax rebate for Medicine Hat residents is $1,080 per person, plus $540 for a second adult and $250 per child for the 2024-25 year. To this point this year my wife and I have received $1,215.50. Going back to a year ago, the total is $1,533.75. There are two types of carbon tax costs, direct and indirect. Direct includes heating and fuel for driving. Utility bills itemize carbon tax on heating. Over the last year, our carbon tax on heating, including GST, came to $234. Our car gives us a mileage average and we travel about 16,000 km a year. Multiplying the mileage by the kilometres tells us how many litres of fuel we bought. 7 X 16,000 divided by 100 = 1,120 litres. The carbon tax is $.176 per litre. Total cost = $197.12. Our direct costs are under $500. Economists have calculated indirect costs. Last December Calgary economist Trevor Tombes published an analysis. At $65/tonne, the overall impact was 0.3%. At its present $80/tonne, that translates to 0.37%. If we got $1,000 more in rebate than our direct costs, we would have to spend $270,000 to use up our carbon tax rebate (Rebate amount X 100 divided by 0.37). Everyone is free to be in favour of axing the tax but for those who think they will be better off, they might want to calculate what kind of difference it will make to their pocket book. Ed Dick Medicine Hat 12-11
It’s a well know fact that we are all getting more than what it’s costing us so why scrap it when it’s helping some who desperately need it. Poilievre is using it to fearmonger and doesn’t care that it was created by conservatives to help the oil industry show the world we do care about Global warming and want to help try to do something about it.