Budget watchdog says carbon-price revenues to be $2.6B this year

Apr 25, 2019 | 8:07 AM

OTTAWA — Canada’s budget watchdog says revenues from the federal carbon price will be more than $2.6 billion this year and exceed $6 billion a year within five years.

The new analysis by the parliamentary budget office, which includes both the high-profile fuel tax applied in four provinces and a separate pricing system for big industrial emitters, also says that revenues will start to fall after five years because Canadians will burn less fossil fuel.

The federal government implemented a fuel surcharge this month in the provinces that have not enacted carbon-pricing systems of their own, starting at $20 per tonne of emissions produced and rising to $50 per tonne in 2022.