B.C. Introduces Carbon Tax

I'm telling you, the next step is to tax people for breathing.

B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor introduced a new Carbon Tax for British Columbia. She plans to tax people who heat their home and drive around in cars. The tax will be $10 for every tonne of fossil fuel burnt and will be raised up to $30 per tonne after 3 years. Don't worry if you live in B.C., the government will send you a check for $100 before the tax comes into effect.

The new tax is expected to raise about $1.85 billion and will be returned to low-income taxpayers. So basically you're redistributing wealth. Sounds like socialism to me.

"I would have liked to see something a bit more ambitious but I have to say it's very well-crafted." B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor

VANCOUVER -- Forget Ralphbucks: British Columbia is promising to rain down Greenbucks in its bid to sell a dramatic new, North America-first carbon tax that will grab more cash from the pockets of motorists and those heating their houses in the cold North while leaving big industrial emitters unscathed.

"We promised you green and today we deliver green," B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor said as she stood on stage in Victoria Tuesday to deliver the province's budget in a striking pair of green heels.

"This is an important turning point for B.C., and we think for Canada because we are out in front on this," she said, suggesting the new tax could raise up a new "social movement" -- regardless of whether any other province follows suit, and despite serious concern from businesses cringing at the prospect of working under a patchwork of different climate regimes across the country.

And though the government's own estimates suggest the carbon tax will only trim B.C.'s emissions by 4.5% -- far shy of Premier Gordon Campbell's commitment of a 33% cut by 2020 -- Ms. Taylor was unapologetic.

"We don't want to wait," she said. "We think it's important to take the first step."

...

Ms. Taylor pledged to issue a $100 cheque to every person in the province in the weeks leading up to the July 1 launch of the carbon tax, which will begin at $10 per tonne of fossil fuel-fired greenhouse gas production. That amounts to 2.4 cents per litre of gasoline and 50 cents per gigajoule of natural gas, amounts that will triple over the next five years as the carbon tax grows to $30 a tonne.

By then, the owner of a gas-loving pickup truck who drives 40,000 kilometres a year will see a fat $500 added to his annual fuel bill.

Emissions from landfills and agriculture -- as well as from makers of oil, gas, aluminum and cement -- will not be taxed. Together, those emissions make up 30% of the province's carbon footprint -- although some may be covered in a cap-and-trade system expected to be unveiled late this summer.

In total, the tax is expected to raise $1.85-billion over the next three years, but Ms. Taylor stressed that none of that money will be used for new government spending. Instead, it will be returned to taxpayers in the form of credits to low-income people and new tax cuts that will, in 2008, drop personal income tax for those earning up to $70,000 by 2% and trim business taxes by a percentage point -- down to 11% for corporations and 3.5% for small businesses.