Carbon Tax Hike Booed: Poll
Most in BC, except in Vancouver, are opposed to the increase.
Lower earners especially don't like it.
Even Genghis Khan learned to be peaceful... when he saw how much more rewarding it was to tax peasants than to kill them. -- Monica Prasad
British Columbians strongly oppose the 50 per cent increase in the B.C. Liberals' carbon tax imposed July 1, new polling conducted exclusively for 24 Hours newpaper shows.
Polling by Strategic Communications shows that 65 per cent of those surveyed disagree with the 1.17 cent per litre carbon tax increase on gas and 1.35 cents on heating fuel.
And a full 47 per cent "strongly oppose" the carbon tax increase, while only 30 per cent of those polled support the gas tax hike and just 11 per cent "strongly support" it. Another 5 per cent don't oppose or support it.
The new carbon tax rate is 3.51 cents per litre on gas and 4.04 cents per litre on heating fuel. It continues rising annually until it hits 7 cents per litre on gas and 8 cents on heating fuel in 2012.
Strategic Communications President Bob Penner says that despite the recent re-election of Premier Gordon Campbell, who introduced North America's only carbon tax, it is still strongly opposed.
"It's obvious nobody likes paying a tax increase, but it's pretty clear from this poll, and previous ones that we and others have done, that regardless of the substance of the issue, the Liberals have so far completely failed to sell this carbon tax," Penner says.
Online poll, small regional samples
The poll of 1,000 British Columbians conducted online from June 22 to 29 shows an interesting urban-rural split, with 48 per cent of Vancouver residents supporting the tax and 41 per cent opposed -- the only place where the tax increase is slightly favoured.
In the rest of Metro Vancouver, the gas tax increase is opposed by 65 per cent, with 45 per cent strongly opposed; on Vancouver Island 66 per cent opposed; in the interior 72 per cent opposed; and in the north 84 per cent were against it, with 72 per cent strongly opposed. One caution: regional breakdowns are based on much smaller samples.
Every age group of British Columbians surveyed opposed the gas tax hike, from 50 per cent of younger people opposed and 35 per cent supportive to 50 to 64 year olds being 71 per cent against it and 25 per cent in favour.
And interestingly, women are more opposed than men -- by 66 per cent to 63 per cent.
Strongest tax support from the wealthiest
Also worth noting is that the strongest support for the carbon tax comes from the wealthiest British Columbians. Those with an income over $100,000 support the carbon tax increase by a margin of 44 per cent to the 51 per cent who are opposed.
For lower income earners it's another story. Sixty-one per cent of those making less than $30,000 oppose the gas tax jump versus 29 per cent who agree, while those with income between $30,000 and $70,000 oppose it by a margin of 65 per cent to 33 per cent.
The strongest opposition comes from those with incomes between $70,000 and $100,000, with 72 per cent against and just 25 per cent in favour.
'Axe the Tax' vindicated
The polling clearly shows that some environmentalists and others who argue imposing the carbon tax was a political winner for the B.C. Liberals and opposing it a mistake for the B.C. New Democrats are wrong.
The Strategic Communications poll also indicates that a much smaller poll of 250 British Columbians in mid-June by Environics Research that claimed "public support rises for B.C. carbon tax" is likely incorrect in its conclusions.
That poll -- released at a conference titled "Decoding Carbon Pricing" that was hosted by the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions and Sustainable Prosperity -- had 48 per cent in favour of the gas tax and 47 per cent against.
Environics Research also released a poll in July 2008 that showed only 40 per cent support for the carbon tax and 56 per cent opposition just after it was first implemented.
As argued here, the B.C. Liberals won in spite of the tax, not because of it.
Related Tyee stories:
- Global Warming Debate Lost in Carbon Tax Fog
'Partisan scrabbling' ruining chance to educate voters: VTACC's Washbrook. - BC's carbon tax kerfuffle goes global
- Mayors seek carbon-tax revenue for public transit
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
G West
06-07-2009
People are catching on
The Campbell Tax is not a Carbon Tax - it's a money laundry. It siphons money from those who can least afford it into the pockets of those who least need it.
In doing so it ignores two of the biggest polluters and GHG producers - cruise ships and airlines. In addition, it is administratively cumbersome and costly while not converting one truck to natural gas, getting one commuter out of his/her car and onto public transit, or converting one house to solar heat.
Ask yourselves why.
And then, maybe, citizens should ask the CEO why?
DPL
06-07-2009
We live on a fixed income so
We live on a fixed income so every gasoline increase affects us. Heting oil is not an issue at our place becasue we have electric heat, which now means we are in the two tier system increase. Today in Victoria it's 1.08.9 cents for regular. Somebody is making big dollars a few cents at a time.
Grumpy
06-07-2009
DITTO "G"..............
The Campbell Carbon/gas tax is a gas tax, pure and simple. It has not reduced carbon emissions, nor has it reduced car ownership; it is another tax grab by a tax and spend politician who seems to be a very poor businessman.
Grumpy has always claimed the carbon/gas tax was in fact a RAV tax, to help fund the grossly over budget RAV/Canada line.
Susan Heyes lawsuit revealed that the real cost of RAV/Canada line was approaching $2.8 billion! The judge also called the RAV/Canada Line P-3 a charade!
Even today, TransLink is moving the goal posts for RAV, claiming now only 10% of users will go to the airport, based on 100,000 passengers a day!
But if ridership is only 50,000 a day, as many have predicted, then ridership to the airport will be a mere 5,000 a day and RAV will need to be heavily subsidized.
Campbell needs cash to keep his Ponzi P-3 out of the red, lest it heralds the demise of all the Liberal P-3's!
Powell river pe...
06-07-2009
Lets talk big business
In an economic disaster brought on by campbell`s policies,businesses are closing,big industry aren`t paying taxes,this punitive,useless tax will deter more industry to stay away.
This punitive tax adds costs to every BC good.
The anger is building,first nations,big business,commen folk,next week we have the first acknowledgement of the deficit from last year.
Campbell couldn`t run a lemonade stand,bill,as for the axe the tax hurting the NDP,your right,the issue is a winner,what hurt the NDP was the media,the Suzuki`s,the Berman`s.
And I hope their all happy,death of salmon,health cuts,bear hunting,pipelines and a broke ass BC,
Sleep well Suzuki,next time you want to confront someone,confront Campbell,yes indeed,
The big election issues as potrayed by the Canwaste media.
1) Carole James picture with 2 DJs from rock 101
2)400 litres of fuel on a flight to the Ashlu ROR
3)Fraser institute claiming 51 thousand lost jobs by raising the minimum wage
4)Jaccard claiming adding taxes to industry(cap n trade)will cost 60 thousand jobs,yet he didn`t weigh in on the carbon tax
5)3.00$ per 6 pack beer price increase,yet the increase was 50 cents per 6 pack and at only SOME beer n winestores,great research by Canwest to profigate a lie......20$ a case of beer at the BC liquor store, the 16% discount for SOME beer n wine stores,meant they paid 16.80$ per case,by changing the discount to 10% meant SOME beer n wine stores would have to pay 18.00% per case,thats a cost of 60cents a 6 pack,not 3$ dollars per 6 pack,go back to school Michael Smyth.
These were the issues for the media,the carbon tax,do you think it matters to those boat owners at the Weston bayshore?
Like Grumpy says,the carbon tax makes the journey to points Roberts for gas/beer/butter and milk all the more enjoyable,does anyone need to ask why the lineups to go south at the border are 2-3-4-5 hours,and the wait to come north,NO WAIT........And don`t forget about the thousands that cross the border to fill up in Alberta,and they but groceries,big screens etc.......
CARBON TAX THAT CAMPBELL
P.S. I must go,I have 2 cords of firewood to stack,and so do hundreds of my neighbors,thats the consequence of the carbon tax,tens of thousands burning firewood!
For a better world
06-07-2009
Flat taxes, user fees, etc
All flat taxes and user fees shift the burden to those with less resources from those that are generally better off. This process has been proceeding exponentially since the Margaret Thatcher era when she first introduced head taxes.
At one time, both the provincial and local governments had "ability to pay" perspectives, where those who owned higher valued (assessed) propeties paid more fees because their properties were worth more.
Governments in BC shifted the cost of their operations to those with less resources, by levying flat fees instead of using actual assessed values. When assessed values were used to charge for services such as to garbage collection, recycling, water, and sewerage, more of the cost recovery was allocated to higher valued properties.
Wealthier property owners still gained under this arrangement, because their assessed values always lagged behind those of lower valued properties. Now that flat fees are levied for many activities, the tax burden has shifted from those who have greater wealth to those that have less. The Campbell regime exacerbated this further, when they reduced income taxes and increased user fees.
Camero409
06-07-2009
Carbon Tax and BC Rail
Just want to put in my 2 cents (with the carbon tax it will increase to 10 cents) about the carbon tax. It will be used to pay down the cost of the Olympics.
By the way, the fix is in for the sale of the BC rail line to Port Roberts. Guess who won! CN of course. But wait a minute, BC still owns the road bed! Of couse we do. The Crown (Canada) owns all the land all we have is the right to use it if we pay the mortgage and or taxes. The Crown designates the Provincal Land and the Province sell the use of the land to whom ever pays the price. Ultimately we (the people of BC) own the land we just can't use it or collect benefits from it because it is in a private parties hands.
Formerly from BC Rail we would collect interchange fees (that's when a non-owner uses anothe railways track to deliver product or switches rail cars to another rail road). Now we will lose any revenue that was generated by the spur line to Point Roberts. We have now lost over $400,000,000, that BC Rail generated after overhead, for our General Revenue. Thats money we didn't have to pay in Carbon Taxes and the smoke and mirrors, aka Assessments, now being used for Municipal taxes.
Wow I better get some lot more grease for the next 4 years! I feel a major screwing coming!
Wilfred Laurier
06-07-2009
Bill
Aren't you beating a dead horse here? Your party lost the election running on "axe the tax" and even Carole has flip-flopped on it.
"Today in Victoria it's 1.08.9 cents for regular."
And last week in Vancouver we saw $1.12, it was $1.06 tonight and $1.47 a year ago. You are now paying 40% less for a litre of gasoline than a year ago.
It is over. Done, we have a carbon tax. Pump prices are actually down this week due to the drop in crude prices.
Really, you need to campaign on something that will win you elections, Bill, and future consulting contracts for being an NDP rah-rah man for so long.
wayfarer
06-07-2009
Agree with the dead horse analysis
Bill has been pounding away at this issue, despite the recent election results and despite an about face by his party's own leader. Now the anti-carbon tax rant is just coming off as a not-so-big pundit ego with a big chip on shoulder, who doesn't like the taste of crow pie washed down with sour grape juice.
The essence of the above article is nothing new: people don't like paying taxes. And this is supposed to be a big news flash? Bill, do you really want to play this card, given the reputation of NDP governments past of taxing and spending in such big ways? I think not. I hope not. I support progressive taxation, tax shifting.
View the carbon tax as a kind of sin tax. If you want to pollute, you pay. And it's not like the tax amounts to much. The oil company price fixings represent far more dramatic costs to the working stiffs out there. If the carbon tax's current structure is unfair, well, then find a way to make it better rather than throwing out baby with bathwater. Did the poll bother to ask the following: "Do you believe in the general principal of a tax on carbon emissions?"
I'm with Carole James in her pragmatic bid to fight in making the carbon tax fairer. In the meantime, surely, there are bigger emissions fish to fry out there, aren't there? Like Gateway, transit issues, Port Mann Bridge, urban planning, climate change, the tar sands, our addiction to fossil fuels and the failure, etc....
There was a day, in my lifetime, when most adults around me smoked cigarettes and they'd scream blue bloody murder every time the tax on tobacco went up - "punishing the working man," they'd say. A small minority still say it.
Progressive tax shifting can take years, even decades to effectively change behavior. We are a year into the carbon tax, yet Bill and his NDP peanut gallery are in hysterics about how unfair and ineffective it is. Patience, grasshoppers. You gotta learn to stand before you can walk. Let's give this carbon tax a good decade before dismissing it as nothing more than Campbell money laundering scheme.
I have this funny vision... 2013, NDP wins the election, carbon tax still in place, but better, more effective, NDP claiming to be the new champions of of the fight against climate change.... thank god for politicians that voters have such short memories.
sunwukong
06-07-2009
Consumption tax vs. poor
First off, I'm convinced by the science that AGW is real and that we should be doing something about it.
Regardless, I don't understand those who protest that the poor are unjustly affected by the gas tax -- are you saying that the less poor should subsidise the consumption of gas by those who earn less?
If those at the top of the income heap are helping pay for the carbon emissions of the lower part who outnumber them greatly, why would that reduce emissions?
If the intention is to reduce carbon, then it must be priced.
Anyone can understand how to apply an openly-charged consumption tax and its effects on themselves.
Who really wants to pay for another layer of less-than-transparent bureaucracy to administer a complicated and indirect effect cap and trade system?
Powell river pe...
06-07-2009
Carbon tax is useless
And the poor outnumber the wealthy by far,go ahead have a carbon tax but put the money towards something,anything.
@sunwukong--If global warming is real,then make a real stand,lets stop shipping coal to China,what do you suggest to most of the province that doesn`t have transit?Wait for skytrain to be built?
Lets fast forward to 2013,the carbon tax is 10cents a litre,will anyone stop driving?Even BC Liberal spokesperson Marc Jaccards states "for the carbon tax to work it would have to cost 25 to 75 cents a litre"
So even the author and Carbon tax designer states the carbon tax doesn`t work!
What you non-thinkers are forgetting is this,with a phoney carbon tax that does nothing,we will never have a real solution,so in fact the carbon tax is detremental to global warming.
Emissions have gone up since the carbon tax was implimented,more cars than ever on the road,so Wayfarer/Sunwukong.......
Write a compelling letter to Campbell and plead to him to stop the tax-cuts associated with the carbon,tell him you want the money to go to transit and green retro-fits.......
Yea I thought so,you people amaze me,lets charge grizzly bear hunters a hundred dollar fee for each bear shot,and we will earmark the fees for saving the grizzly bear!
Same with carbon offsets,it`s a scam,to give you an example,a neighbor clear cut his 10 acres of every tree some years ago,it was barren and an eyesore,now the whole property is covered with trees and shrubs,bushes,any land in BC that can sustain planlife it will grow on it`s own.
Cap n trade in europe was a disaster,carbon credits,a new carbon stock market,emissions went through the roof,it had the reverse effect...
There is only one thing industry understands,they must be told to reduce or else,carbon tax,cap n trade,tree planting,it`s all smoke and mirrors,it`s a little like fiddling why Rome burns.
Sunwukong,why do you suppose Campbell wants a 5 billion dollar pipeline from Alberta to prince rupert? So we can sell more oil to China.Yea,we are enviromentalists in BC aren`t we!
Canada is 2% of world emissions,BC is 10% of Canadas emissions,so if BC shut down every source of emissions tommorrow we would lower world emission by.....
0.20 %
If any of you cared about the enviroment you would demand real action,not a phoney money wurlitzer/ go ahead,wear condoms when you cheat on your girlfriends and wives,your not really cheating when you cover up and carry on as usual!
Wilfred Laurier
07-07-2009
Polls
Polls have a use as a measure of public opinion but they can be manipulated for political ends, just like the poll quoted in the above article. Ask anyone this question in a society that is so based on the car:
1. Do you want the price of gasoline increase?
a. Yes
b. No
Well, you are going to get an 80% "no" answer, which is a real no brainer. We even have a poster above saying how great it is to shop in the USA, a place with no universal health care, a huge disparity in educational quality and crumbling infrastructure.
It is a dead horse issue and it is making the author look even more idiotic that ever before. Even his party, which formerly supported carbon taxes, has flip-flopped on the issue. Bill, get on board if you want a fat contract from your NDP masters if and when they form a government again. You had better hope it is before you collect your CPP, though!
Skywalker
07-07-2009
Wilf LOL Laurier and wayfarer
The truth is a "dead horse" in this province. You are right about that. That's courtesy of Gordon Campbell and his thugs. This is how ordinary average and lower income folks pay of the debt from the Olympic Party.
G West
07-07-2009
Once again, with emphasis
The Campbell Tax is not a Carbon Tax - it's a money laundry. It siphons money from those who can least afford it into the pockets of those who least need it.
In doing so it ignores two of the biggest polluters and GHG producers - cruise ships and airlines. In addition, it is administratively cumbersome and costly while not converting one truck to natural gas, getting one commuter out of his/her car and onto public transit, or converting one house to solar heat.
Ask yourselves why.
In fact, the 'scrap-it' program, which actually gets cars off the road and encourages transit use, bicycle purchases and car co-op membership does more to address AGW than anything the Campbell Tax - as presently constituted - will ever do.
The appallingly sad part of this whole question is the participation of voices who purport to 'care' about the situation (with a view toward making improvements) on the CEO's compromised team of Public Affairs Bureau flacks.
I wish all of you could have received the phone call from Andrew Weaver on May 11 urging me to vote Liberal that I did.
Some scientist! Some spokesman!
Hope he's comfortable working off the side of the Premier's desk while Gordo's 'government' continues to victimize the poor and build more roads and bridges.
Breathing well these days are you Andrew? Or is that phony Nobel prize hanging from your neck turning into a bit of an Albatross?
And then, maybe, citizens should ask the CEO why?
The Campbell Tax is not a Carbon Tax, it is a money laundry – it will remove not one gram of C02 from the atmosphere.
KevinC
07-07-2009
We're number 8!
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/659218
Yup. Pat on the back, Canada. Cake for all. All Canucks, that is.
Skywalker
07-07-2009
Ignore the gas tax proponents Bill!
You can tell when you have something significant to say by the number of detractors that come out of the woodwork to protest. Carry on Bill! You obviously make the tyee worth reading.
Powell river pe...
07-07-2009
What a joke
It must be real brain drain to be a Campbell supporter.
Here seemingly intelligent people have to defend the carbon tax,they argue over it yet they know it`s a fraud.
Yes Ruben,the world is flat cause Campbell and thomas friedman say so.
Here is a quote from your great leader about the carbon tax(june 2008)
"The carbon tax will take 400 thousand cars off the road each year"
Well,here we are in year 2 of the tax,did 800 thousand cars stop driving? Answer,a resounding no!In fact,there are about 110 thousand more cars on the road today than there was before the carbon tax was implimented.
Gee,2 more years of the carbon tax and there will be no cars on the roads,that according to Campbell.
So you living a lie supporters,say what you want about the tax being revenue nuetrol(to goverment)say what you want about it not costing that much to individuals,but..
Don`t you dare say it`s helping the enviroment,or green retrofits or transit or anything.
So go ahead,watch out for the giant waterfall on your next ocean voyage take your property assessment with you and read how much money you saved with Campbell`s 2007 assessment number,enjoy you anti-biotic filled farmed fish and pleasent dreams about how you saved the world from global climate change because you paid a few hundred dollars in carbon taxes filling your boat and SUVs,
Meanwhile I will keep myself grounded in reality.
P.S. don`t forget your barrell for the falls!
Powell river pe...
07-07-2009
@ Kevinc
I agree,we are polluters,talk to Alberta,talk to the heavily subsidized oil n gas sector in BC,the coal we export has 5 times the emissions than we BCers produce...
This story isn`t about how we pollute,it`s about the Carbon tax,smelting industry(exempt from carbon tax)..Cruise ships(exempt) ...air travel (exempt)...gas flaring(exempt)..
The carbon tax doesn`t do anything,well maybe it will soothe your guilt,there is no question,Canadians are polluters,but because of our small population we are still only 2% of world emissions.
Ruben,we are a heavy industry country,we run big machinery and export resources but that doesn`t change the fact that the carbon tax won`t reduce emissions...perhaps you can suggest an alternative for me,30 kilometer round trip for groceries and no transit where I live,no mail delivery,no garbage pick-up and thats the case for most BCers(excluding the lowermainland)....
And I say this to you Kevin c-Write a letter to Campbell demanding the carbon tax tax cuts be ended,demand that the carbon tax goes to transit,green retrofits,sequestration,anything,stop defending a useless carbon tax,you will have better luck convincing me of the existance of the sasquatch or Oogo pogo,how can you people stomach what you have become,sheep,this isn`t a NDP/Liberal issue,I would be knocking the NDP or Greens or anyone who advocates this fraud.
singingwithin
07-07-2009
Tax Shift, not Tax Hike
For the record, I voted NDP in this last election not because of the ax the tax campaign, but despite it.
It's really something to write a whole column about a so-called tax hike without once noting that increase in the carbon tax results in reductions in personal income tax and tax breaks for low income families. The Auditor General has confirmed it, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has confirmed it. Tieleman and (until the election) the NDP are the only ones in denial about it. The environmental community has been saying "tax pollution, not me" for 20 years, and the carbon tax finally does it.
As for the claim that the carbon tax hasn't resulted in GHG reductions - very misleading. It is true that BC's emissions did rise after the tax was introduced, but this also coincided with a massive drop in gas prices, confirming that high prices discourage gas use - the very premise of a carbon tax. To show that the carbon tax was not effective in reducing you would need to show that those emissions would not have risen more during the same period without the tax than they did with it.
Matt T.
07-07-2009
Vancouverites Can Be Proud
Only Vancouverites support the carbon tax and they should be proud. Once within the confines of Vancouver's boundaries one can take solace that if climate change ever does happen, those within the City of Vancouver will be the lucky ones and be protected from said climate change.
And the same argument for Vancouver is also apropos if a nuclear war would ever broke out. With the advent of the "Welcome to Vancouver - A Nuclear Weapons Free Zone" signs at the city's entrance, one can also find solace and comfort within the city's boundaries.
Woe to those not living wihin the City of Vancouver. Climate change and nuclear war will reap havoc upon you.
Powell river pe...
07-07-2009
Pablum spewers
The province takes money in,spits it back out,that IS NOT A TAX CUT
Starting tommorrow everyone will pay a 5000.00$ bc citizen tax,but everyone will get a 5000.00 tax cut at the end of the year,you get it?
I am now the biggest tax cutter in BC history,@swinging-are you on drugs? You make a tax then give it back to create a tax cut,you people aren`t real.
I again re-iterate,you can call it revenue nuetrol(to goverment)--You can say it`s doesn`t cost that much,but that`s where it ends,it doesn`t reduce emissions,it is NOT A TAX CUT....One more example,you buy a soda pop,there is a refundable bottle deposit,would it matter if the deposit was 10 cents or ten dollars? No it wouldn`t,it`s called a refundable deposit and,it everyone stopped buying fuels tommorrow the tax cuts would end,and so would the economy.PAB hacks,......
Shouldn`t you be working on the spin about last years 600 million dollar deficit and this years 2.5 billion dollar deficit?
G West
07-07-2009
Nope
What Marc Lee of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives confimed was that low and middle income earners and especially the poor lose on the tax refund part of the Campbell Tax...
Perhaps you missed this:
http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/10/30/CarbonTax/
The Cambell Tax is not a Carbon Tax - it is Tony Soprano Money Laundry - like everything else the CEO has done since he came to power.
seth
07-07-2009
'Axe the Tax' NOT!!!!
Bill does great research but his analysis/advice and sadly that of the entire NDP leadership team is so abysmal that it is the key to the Neocon success election after election.
James telegraphed her carbon tax uppercut a year before the election so the Gordo had lots of time to plan a surprise knockout counter punch. With bags of corporate money and other party favors in hand he was able to buy a stable of prominent Neocon media hyped so-called environmentalists and camp followers Jaccard, DaGucci, Berman, Weaver, Pembina and Harcourt. Voters are mostly idiots who haven't had an original thought all their lives and when a mainstream media celeb says something on the TeeVee - it must be true.
Had anybody in the NDP campaign taken on the impossible and beaten some sense into Carole James and/or Jerry Scott, they would had realized that the Green factor was the key to a win and dumped the carbon tax thing right away. That Campbell's carbon tax was simply a method of funneling campaign donation kickbacks to humongous bank and had utterly no effect on carbon consumption was logic. Despite their love of Spock, the dull mind of a the BC Voter is utterly incapable of logical thought. How a person could claim support for the Green platform and/or the environment could stay home or vote the Gweenie/Gordo ticket is so incredibly stupid as to defy description.
Yup those nitwits on the Carole James team were right about the carbon tax. DEAD RIGHT!!!
Skywalker
07-07-2009
Wilf
So why does it bother you so much that people keep repeating the truth about it. Are you worried that the truth might actually penetrate the minds of the soft liberal voter who is angry at the increases? You just keep responding. Must be some truth in what Bill says. Maybe if people realize the truth in what Seth says you might actually get intelligent voting. We can't have that can we Wilf?
Wilfred Laurier
07-07-2009
Hmmm
Every low income British Columbian on July 5 received a Climate Action Rebate. It is $100 per person in the home. Assuming one buys 2,000 litres of gasoline a year, the carbon tax at 3.17 cents a litre costs a whopping $63.40 a year. But a family of four received a grant of $400 on July 5.
You are all blowing smoke. Had the NDP done it, you would all love it and you know it.
Wilfred Laurier
07-07-2009
Link
The Climate Action Tax Credit is explained here:
http://www.sbr.gov.bc.ca/individuals/Income_Taxes/Personal_Income_Tax/tax_credits/low_income_climate_action.htm
G West
07-07-2009
Wrong
The Campbell tax scheme, which took effect July 1, recycles all carbon-tax revenues through personal and corporate tax cuts and a low-income tax credit.
In year one, about a third of the revenues go to the low-income credit.
The Campbell Tax will increase steadily over the next five years, but the low-income tax credit is scheduled to increase only once -- and only by five per cent.
Which means that by year 3 of the Campbell Tax, those in the lowest income group will end up paying an average $47 a year more than they get back in tax cuts and credits.
In contradistinction, those in the top income group will end up better off by an average of $311 in year three.
And, for all the effort and the stupidity of the Tony Soprano Campbell Tax not one gram of C02 will have been sequestered; not a single car will have left the traffic jam; not a single person will be able to access better transit; not a single house will have been better insulated and all the while, the worst polluters, the airlines and the cruise ships, (great friends of world traveller and frequent Maui visitor Gordon Campbell) will get off Scot free.
Because, as I’ve told you before:
The Campbell Tax is not a Carbon Tax, it is a money laundry – it will remove not one gram of C02 from the atmosphere.
Dan the socialist
07-07-2009
Most people 'may' be
Most people 'may' be 'opposed' but El Gordo won't see it that way since he was re elected. So in his world he has the 'approval' of the people, even though only 48% eligible people voted and 46% that showed up voted for him.
He won the last election by default due to the horrid campaign the NDP ran...
Skywalker
07-07-2009
Of course you do.
The NDP could have run the best campaign of any party in BC's history and the outcome might well have been the same. It might still not have received recognition from Canwest. It might have made Canwest's biased reporting more blatant to the point where even the thickest voter would have had trouble accepting the bias, but that remains to be seen. Your attempting to give advice and sound rational is silly given your postings. You would have the same reaction to any NDP leader no matter who it was unless that leader became a clone of Gordon Campbell. You constant posting sound like they come from the corporate interest war room.
You also constantly tell people to wait till 2013 as though a four year dictatorship is in place and we should leave the government in peace for the duration. What form of democracy is that anyway. Perhaps we should ask you to do the same. It would be a nice reprieve. One would not have to sort through all you LOL's and contemtuous posts..