Posted on June 5, 2019 (article written by the Canadian Press)
Link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-carbon-tax-repealed-1.5162899
Summary: Alberta’s consumer carbon tax is now officially gone. Legislature members voted to pass the bill that repeals the tax, and it was signed into law by Lt.-Gov. Lois Mitchell. The tax first came into effect on Jan. 1, 2017. The province stopped charging it and the federal government announced it will soon replace the fee with its own carbon levy. The provincial carbon tax, implemented by the former NDP government, added a surcharge to gasoline at the pumps and on fossil-fuelled home heating. The Carbon Tax Repeal Act was the first piece of legislation introduced by Premier Jason Kenney and his newly elected United Conservative government. Kenney won the April election on a promise to kill the tax, saying it hasn’t helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions and took money out of the pockets of working families. Kenney’s government will continue with a tax on large industrial greenhouse gas emitters, and has promised to challenge the constitutionality of the federal carbon tax in court if Ottawa imposes it. Ending the tax opens the door to Ottawa imposing its tax, as it has done with four other provinces that wouldn’t bring in their own carbon pricing: Ontario, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Stakeholders and how different organizations can be affected:
Government: The Government will receive less taxes because of the Tax Repeal Act.
Consumers in Alberta: They will be benefitted because now they will be paying less and also they will spend more which will contribute in country’s economic growth.
Environment: There will be no affect on the environment problems and they will remain the same because before the Tax Repeal Act the greenhouse gas emission didn’t reduce.
Premier Jason Kenney: He will be benefitted because he fulfilled his promise and gain people’s confidence.
Consumers in B.C: They will be dissatisfied because there’s still carbon tax in B.C. and probably they would also like this carbon tax to be removed.
Personal Opinion: I think the Government should remove the carbon tax in Canada because if it’s not helping in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions then there’s no point of having it. It’s just a burden on consumers which leads them to spend less on other goods and services.
Question: Do you think that carbon tax should be removed?
What other things the government can do to reduce environmental problems?
Economics 12 