A majority of Canadians want to see the federal portion of sales tax removed from the carbon tax, according to a new poll.
The Leger poll was commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation as part of its Gas Tax Honesty press conference, which takes place in Ottawa every year.
The poll found that 62% of Canadians want the Trudeau government to remove its sales tax from its divisive carbon pricing scheme, while 22% are opposed to ending it.
A small cohort of 16% said they didn’t know but of those who were decided on the issue, 74% supported ending the carbon tax-on-tax.
“The poll results are crystal clear: the vast majority of Canadians want the federal government to end its carbon tax-on-tax,” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano.
“If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau really wanted to make life more affordable, he would end his gas tax-on-tax.”
The Gas Tax Honesty report noted that when you’re at the pump, “taxes include the sales taxes you see on your receipt, but also the federal excise tax, provincial excise tax and carbon taxes you don’t see.”
Additionally, there are some cities where you also pay a hidden transit tax.
“Canadians know the carbon tax is costing them more than the rebates they get back because they also pay this tax-on-tax,” said Terrazzano. “Ending the tax-on-tax at the gas pumps and making life more affordable should be a no-brainer.”
The Trudeau government has been increasing its carbon tax annually since 2019, reaching $80 per tonne on April 1, 2024, with plans to raise it to $170 per tonne over the next six years.
According to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, removing the GST paid on the carbon tax would save Canadians $595 million this year and over $1 billion annually by 2030, money that is not currently being rebated to Canadians.
The Gas Tax Honesty report found that taxes account for 60 cents per litre of gas on average, with the federal taxes making up around 35 cents of that.
“Every time you buy gasoline, you are charged a tax-on-tax. That’s because some governments calculate sales taxes after all the per-litre taxes are added,” reads the report.
“That means you pay taxes on all the per-litre taxes governments added to the price. The tax-on-tax costs the average Canadian driver an extra 4.5 cents per litre of gasoline, on average.
Federal gas taxes are on track to cost about 74 cents per litre by 2030.
“The big tax bill at the pumps is about to get bigger because of Trudeau’s carbon tax hikes,” said Terrazzano.
“Trudeau should make life more affordable by cutting gas taxes, scrapping the carbon tax and ending his tax-on-tax.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre vowed to eliminate both parts of the consumer carbon tax if elected, including another component the Clean Fuel Regulations, which still affects provinces that have an independent carbon pricing system.
“The Bloc and the Liberals want higher gas and diesel prices. The Conservatives want to cut taxes,” Poilievre told CBC Radio-Canada in an interview.
“Only the Conservative Party voted against it, and we intend to make a major reform of the tax system to simplify, reduce, and make taxes fairer — to bring back production and bigger paycheques to Canada,” he added.
