Saskatchewan residents can expect to pay more in carbon tax than were previously told, according to the latest estimates.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) recently reported that households in the province will pay an average of $475 in the 2019-2020 year, and an additional $1,070 a year when the carbon tax reaches its eventual $50 a tonne target by 2022-2023.
The latest numbers exceed the PBO’s prior estimates. Last April, Saskatchewan residents were told they would pay $425 in 2019-2020 and $932 per year in 2022-2023.
Saskatchewan families on average face the highest carbon tax in Canada – twice as much as families in New Brunswick are expected to pay.
According to the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan (APAS), farmers will be the hardest hit when it comes to losses. Farmers in the province are expected to lose thousands of dollars each year due to the carbon tax.
A farmer with a 5,000 acre farm will pay up to 8% of their net income by 2020 and another 12% by 2022.
As exclusively reported on by True North, a Canadian grain retailer from Saskatchewan was recently charged over $10,000 in carbon taxes on a 2019 energy bill.
The unidentified grain trading company was charged $10,267.71 on a $46,382.23 energy bill.
A carbon tax was federally imposed on the province in 2019 after the provincial government refused to legislate its own carbon pricing scheme.
In December, the Trudeau government announced it would be reducing the tax rebate Saskatchewan families could claim.
In March of this year, the Supreme Court of Canada will be hearing Saskatchewan’s and Ontario’s court challenges of the federally imposed carbon tax.
Lawyers for both provinces are arguing that the forced tax is unconstitutional and reaches beyond the federal government’s authority.
