Carbon Tax Costs for Canadian Households Introduction and Chart

Federal legislation in Canada mandates a floor price on greenhouse gas emissions from combustion in all provinces. Provinces that implement an equivalent carbon price are free to direct the collected revenues to their own uses. Provinces that do not implement a carbon price are subject to a federally administered pricing system, where revenues are recycled using lump sum household rebates.

Given the differences in provincial approaches and the differences in household spending, it can be difficult to determine exactly how much this carbon price costs Canadian households. In an effort to help people understand the household impact of carbon pricing in Canada, for each province and by income decile, we present estimates of:

• costs by energy type (electricity, natural gas, gasoline, heating oil),
• total costs from carbon pricing,
• the value of a rebate under different rebate mechanisms, and
• the net effect of carbon pricing for Canadian household budgets.

For more detailed analysis and results, please see our Smart Prosperity Institute working paper.