In Canada we have a new carbon tax, which is causing some controversy. There is a federal election coming soon, so who knows what the result may be. It may be eliminated by the next government, or it may continue. I don’t really mean to get in to political discussion, but the whole thing makes no sense to me. It’s like a shell game in my opinion.

Some of our provinces have their own carbon tax system and so are exempt from this federal tax, but the provinces who don’t – here is my rough understanding of how it goes:

We are charged an additional tax per litre for gasoline, and we are charged a tax for home heating costs. Now, this makes driving and heating our homes more expensive – but I can’t say it makes me drive less, or heat my home less. Does that work for anyone? I have to go the places I have to go, and I already try to reduce my transportation and heating costs because I want to. But then the government gives all taxpayers a tax credit – ostensibly so that we won’t be out of pocket for more money – What? This year, each of my 4 young adult kids got $154.00 tax credit, and my husband and I received somewhere between $200 and $300 (I’ve forgotten now) but why. I thought the purpose of the tax was to save the environment. If the tax and the credit are supposed to wash each other out – then how does this affect the environment?

I had heard that the point of the carbon tax was to invest in carbon friendly projects, but why don’t the candidates campaign about that instead of shuffling our money around?