XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
   From: No-More-Cons@govt.ca   
      
   The Canadian Press Posted: Jul 1, 2011   
      
   Carbon tax bumps up B.C. fuels prices   
   B.C. residents face another across-the-board increase in fuel taxes in what's   
   become a Canada   
   Day convention.   
      
   The province's carbon tax on gasoline, diesel and all oil-based fuels, as well   
   as natural gas   
   and coal, has jumped every July 1 since 2008.   
      
   Friday's increase adds another 1.11 cents per litre to gasoline prices and   
   another 1.15 cents   
   per cubic metre on natural gas.   
      
   The gasoline carbon tax now totals 5.56 cents on every litre. It will rise   
   another 1.11 cents to   
   6.67 cents per litre July 1, 2012 — the last year of the increases in the   
   current legislation.   
      
   The purpose of the tax is to encourage energy conservation in order to fight   
   global warming.   
      
   Some consider a penny or so more per litre every year a small price — perhaps   
   too small — in the   
   war against climate change, while others suggest B.C. has been fighting alone   
   and it's time to   
   consider a retreat.   
      
   Only escalating carbon tax jurisdiction   
   "The problem for British Columbia is that we are dancing alone: we are the   
   only jurisdiction in   
   North America to levy a broadly-based carbon tax that rises over time," said   
   Jock Finlayson,   
   spokesman for the Business Council of B.C.   
      
   "An ever-increasing made-in-B.C. carbon tax isn't sustainable if other   
   provinces and states   
   decline to follow the same path."   
      
   Quebec has been charging petroleum companies a carbon tax of just under one   
   cent per litre since   
   2007 and Alberta forces most petroleum companies to contribute to a government   
   technology fund,   
   but B.C. has North America's only escalating carbon tax.   
      
   B.C. introduced its carbon tax as part of former premier Gordon Campbell's   
   plan to legislate   
   cuts to greenhouse gas emissions by more than 33 per cent by 2020.   
      
   The most recent statistics provided in the government's Greenhouse Gas   
   Inventory Report indicate   
   the province has a long way to go to meet its reduction targets.   
      
   In 2007, B.C.'s total greenhouse gas emissions were 68 megatonnes. In 2008,   
   greenhouse gas   
   emissions increased to 68.7 megatonnes.   
      
   Provincial legislation on greenhouse gas emissions reduction sets interim   
   reduction targets of   
   six per cent by 2012 and 18 per cent by 2016.   
      
   Prof. Andrew Weaver, a climate expert at the University of Victoria, said B.C.   
   earned worldwide   
   credibility for introducing its visionary carbon tax.   
      
   He said he still favours a go-slow approach to the tax, maintaining the   
   current annual   
   increases, to allow business and residents to continue getting used to paying   
   a price for carbon   
   emissions.   
      
   Businesses balk   
   But the business council, one of the largest business organizations in the   
   province, says the   
   tax hurts B.C. businesses.   
      
   Finlayson said the carbon tax is unfair because B.C. businesses pay the carbon   
   tax while their   
   competitors outside of the province do not. Although the levy is "revenue   
   neutral," meaning   
   carbon tax revenues are returned to businesses and taxpayers in the form of   
   tax breaks, most   
   businesses still balk.   
      
   "The expectations, I think, B.C. had a few years ago was that other   
   jurisdictions, including in   
   North America, would be following suit quite quickly, and so far that hasn't   
   been happening," he   
   said.   
      
   There are no scheduled carbon tax increases after 2012. The current government   
   budget forecasts   
   $740 million in carbon tax revenues this year and $950 million next year.   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)