Statistics on carbon tax called ‘magic’
By Letter to the Editor on May 18, 2018.
Re: “Data doesn’t support Kenney,” May 16
Denis Hoffman uses the magic of statistics and averages to make his point about the benefits of the carbon tax. For example he estimates the carbon tax will only cost $13.65 for a cold winter month for an average sized house. Well Mr. Hoffman, I’m still waiting for my $13.65 cold winter month. My house is average, it is not old and according to the City of Medicine Hat’s Thermal Imaging project, my house has a low heat loss rate.
The carbon taxes I paid on natural gas with the corresponding tax rate are as follows: January: $22.31 (58 per cent tax), February $31.95 (77.4 per cent tax) March $25.34 (72.77 per cent tax).
Mr. Hoffman, these are not statistics or averages, they are actual taxes collected by the NDP government.
Here are some more numbers for you to consider, the City of Medicine Hat has set the May rate for natural gas at $0.7960/GJ and the NDP carbon tax on that gas is set at $1.5170/GJ. Yes, the carbon tax will cost almost double the amount of the product, a 190 per cent tax to heat a home in the northern climate of Canada! This is a bargain, just wait until Justin Trudeau increases the tax to $50/tonne, from the current $30/tonne.
Enjoy playing with your calculator and statistics, Mr. Hoffman. I will enjoy seeing the NDP MLAs on the unemployment line next spring.
Mike Somerville
Medicine Hat
Once again we see Mike making a fool of himself, just like many others of our fellow seniors. He whines and cries about the Carbon Tax just like former Liberal Jason Kenney has taught him to do , but ignores the real problem of what Liberal Ralph Klein did to us. Here are my statistics from our seven year old duplex here in Edmonton. January Carbon Tax $7.84, Feb. $12.55, and March $15.21, a total of $35.60 , yet my wife was paid $112. for a Carbon Tax rebate. The total fees added to our bills thanks to Ralph Klein’s deregulation was $367.51. But Mike doesn’t mention what he got paid in rebates or what Klein did to him, likely because he supported Klein and is supporting Kenney..
Even my friends who haven’t received any rebates state that they don’t mind paying this Carbon Tax if it helps others, like it does, and helps with our pollution problem, knowing something must be done.
Of course it would never occur to Mike to look into the history of the Carbon Tax that’s been in Sweden since 1991, and in B.C. since 2008, along with several countries, and it’s proven that it works.
Maybe he should pull up and read: :The shocking truth about B.C.’s Carbon Tax, It works” or ” When it Comes to Emissions , Sweden Has It’s Cake and Eats It Too”
Going around pretending we don’t have a pollution problem, and shouldn’t bother to do anything about it like these Reform Party Boys have been promoting is just plan stupid, as the oilmen in Edmonton will tell you. It’s why Peter Lougheed urged Klein and Stelmach to slow down growth of our oilsands and get control of the pollution, but they wouldn’t listen..
Fuc, my numbers correlate to Mike’s so you must be using other methods to heat your home or be dressed very warm. I paid $122 in carbon tax for those 3 months. NG cost where I live is average of Alberta rates.Three of us live in a 1700 ft2 home and monitor the thermostat. Our usage is less than others I know with smaller homes. I get zero back in rebates and pay for wealthy people to put solar panels on their roofs. I don’t see how deregulation cost you $367 because that doesn’t even come close on my bills. Why is CO2 now called a pollutant?
@tonio5 Your comments woke me up and I owe you and Mike an apology. I have always looked at my total gas and power bills to gauge how energy efficient our homes over the years were. We purchased this duplex six years ago, it was one year old and at the time we were told that because the furnace
was so energy efficient we didn’t have a chimney, only a PVC pipe leading out the side of the home to get rid of the moisture. After living in it for a few months I didn’t really see much of a change in the energy efficiency they talked about. However I hadn’t really looked at my bills separately and your comments made me do so.
Yes the furnace is very efficient and my gas bills are lower, resulting in low Carbon Taxes, however because we don’t have a chimney we have an electricity hot water tank. It’s a huge 55 gallon tank one, the biggest we have ever had, and really not necessary for two people, and there lies the problem. It’s not an on demand energy efficient one, like our son has, it’s a straight electric one and our power bills are much higher than they could be making up for the savings on our gas bills. we should install an on demand one.
Having said that if any of you have a combined income of less that $95,000. per year you should be getting the Carbon Tax Rebates, like we are and like this site points out “Here’s how Alberta’s Carbon tax works and how it will affect your wallet”. If you aren’t somehow you must have fallen through the cracks and you should contact your MLA to find out why. It might help sending an email to our Energy Minister.
All in all I do apologize I should have looked at my situation more closely and thanks tonio5 for waking me up. Some of my friends have said they aren’t getting the tax either and I will talk to them, they may have been overlooked also.