Posthaste: 70% of Canadians don't understand what the carbon tax costs them
The federal government appears to have a perception problem: Most Canadians don’t understand what the carbon tax is costing them while others believe they are paying more than they receive in rebates, a new poll suggests.
The federal government said nearly all households in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces will receive a rebate on the fuel tax, as long as they filed their taxes, and that 80 per cent of households will earn more than they pay.
Yet almost 70 per cent of Canadians did not know what the carbon tax is costing them, according to a poll by the Angus Reid Institute, which uncovered broad-based confusion around the quarterly rebate program known as the Canada Climate Action Incentive.
A quarter of respondents said they did not get a rebate and 34 per cent said they were paying more in carbon tax than they were getting back. Another 17 per cent said they were satisfied with the rebate and 24 per cent were unsure what they were getting.
The Liberal government should be most concerned about how lower-income Canadians view the rebate, the pollster said. An analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office found lower-income Canadians are “nearly guaranteed” to get back more than they pay, yet the poll found they are just as uncertain about benefiting from the rebate as higher-income Canadians.
“If you’re attempting to sell a tax by stating that low-income earners won’t ultimately pay anything, it’s important to ensure people feel like this is their reality,” said Dave Korzinski, research director at Angus Reid, who authored the study.
The Liberals’ signature climate policy is in trouble across the country, with support for the program plummeting 11 percentage points since 2021, according
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