70 Percent of Canadians Believe Cost of Industrial Carbon Tax Paid by Consumers: Survey

A dump truck works near the Syncrude oil sands extraction facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta, in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jason Franson

Close to three-quarters of Canadians say that they believe businesses pass on some or a majority of the cost of the industrial carbon tax to consumers, according to a recent Leger survey.

The survey, commissioned by the Taxpayers Federation, asked Canadians how much of the industrial carbon tax businesses pass on to consumers.

The survey results found that 44 percent believed businesses pass on the majority of the cost of the tax, while 26 percent said they believed businesses pass along a share of the costs to consumers, and also paid some of the cost.

Of those surveyed, 9 percent said they believed businesses paid the brunt of the cost of the carbon tax. Another 21 percent said they were unsure.

Shortly after being sworn in as prime minister on March 14, Mark Carney dropped the consumer carbon tax to zero. He is not removing the cost for emissions from the industry sector, saying he will make “big polluters” pay.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has said he will remove the carbon tax from the industry sector as well.

The federal carbon tax was introduced in 2019 as a way for Ottawa to bring down greenhouse gas emissions.

Steady Numbers

The survey results are similar to those from a January survey, where 45 percent said businesses passed along most of the cost to consumers.

Another 25 percent said that some of the cost was passed to consumers, with businesses paying a share of it. At that time, 12 percent said they believed businesses absorbed most of the cost of the industrial carbon tax on their own.

Nineteen percent said they were not sure.

The results show that Canadians understand the industrial carbon tax makes life more expensive, Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director Franco Terrazzano said in an April 15 news release.

“Carbon taxes on refineries make gas more expensive, carbon taxes on utilities make home heating more expensive and carbon taxes on fertilizer plants increase costs for farmers and that makes groceries more expensive,” Terrazzano said.

He said that a carbon tax for businesses will cause a cut in production in Canada, and an increase in production in the United States.