EDMONTON, AB: Economists are unanimously weighing in and agreeing the NDP carbon tax is not revenue neutral, the Wildrose Official Opposition said.
Trevor Tombe at the University of Calgary has suggested only $250 million of the $3 billion will be returned to any Albertans fortunate enough to qualify for a rebate, leaving $2.75 billion to go towards a government slush fund.
Tombe said, “The Alberta carbon tax is not revenue neutral – the government shouldn’t try to mislead people.”
Jack Mintz has compared the carbon tax to a 3 per cent sales tax saying, “while some tax expenditure relief is provided for lower-income households through credits, the new consumption levy is largely directed at spending, not tax relief.”
“The NDP aren’t telling Albertans that this $3 billion carbon tax is nothing less than one of the biggest tax hikes in Alberta history,” Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said. “The NDP government seems oblivious. They are turning their backs on everyday Albertans just when they’re hurting most and bringing in a tax that raises the price of everything.”
Even the NDP climate change panel chair, Andrew Leach, referring to British Columbia, has admitted the carbon tax doesn’t meet their, “definition of revenue neutral.”
At a time when tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in the province and weekly earnings are falling, Wildrose Shadow Environment Minister Todd Loewen said a carbon tax that will raise the cost of everything is misguided and something Albertans simply can’t afford.
“Plain and simple, this is a tax grab,” Loewen said. “Respected economists have confirmed what we have been saying – there is no way that this staggering tax is revenue neutral, and the government needs to admit it.”