Fraser Institute challenges revenue neutral claim of B.C.’s carbon tax
VANCOUVER — British Columbia’s Finance Ministry is disputing claims from a Fraser Institute report that says the province’s carbon tax is no longer revenue neutral.
The study released Thursday says the B.C. government no longer cuts other taxes to roughly equal new revenues from the carbon tax.
Without that offset, the study says the province is collecting millions of dollars in additional revenue from taxpayers, which study co-author Charles Lammam says violates the government’s commitment to keep the tax revenue neutral.
The study says the tax was revenue neutral up until 2013, when the government stopped providing new cuts to offset the additional revenue it was collecting from the carbon tax.