CANADA’S CARBON TAX ‘MAKES NO SENSE’

Over the past several weeks, the subject of the federal government’s carbon tax has popped up in conversation quite often.

Whether when talking to a longtime friend or a stranger in a waiting room, everyone seems to have strong feelings on this topic. Indeed, the vast majority of people I’ve talked with absolutely despise this new tax and believe it should be abolished immediately.

I can’t say I disagree with that sentiment. This is a tax that not only directly and significantly drives up the cost of traveling and operating literally anything that requires gasoline, but it also fuels inflation and indirectly drives up the price we pay for just about everything else.

Those who actually support the carbon tax, oddly enough, seem to have their heads in the sand regarding this fact. But it’s not rocket science. The tax drives up the cost of gas/diesel. Everything we buy, from burgers to cars, is produced elsewhere and shipped to us. The shippers incur the carbon tax and pass that expense on to the retailers. Those retailers then pass that expense on to their customers, you and I, and there’s not a darn thing we can do about the higher prices we’re then forced to pay.

The carbon tax is one of a small number of factors that significantly drive inflation, and I don’t need to remind anyone that another was not needed. Times were already tough under the current federal government.

I’ve heard young people alternately say they don’t care about the carbon tax and think it’s a good idea while also lamenting that prices are out of control. It’s troubling that they don’t see the connection.

Supporters of the carbon tax invariably tell us “Most of us will get back more money as a refund than we paid” to justify their support. Really?

Then what is the point of the tax at all?

If the government is just going to refund everything plus add a bit more, there is zero point that I can see to this tax. I’ve studied economics and have a degree hanging on my wall so I know a little.

It costs millions of dollars to implement and collect the carbon tax, so why spend that kind of money just to antagonize voters who were already unhappy with the way the nation was being managed?

It makes no sense. It’s another example of what I regard as a total lack of common sense from our so-called leadership in Ottawa.

David Donohue Sydney