The Trudeau government promised small businesses five years ago they would receive carbon tax rebates. Still, the repayments only pay a small portion of the higher fuel costs, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).. GasCredit: Pexels.com / no attribution required .“To date, they have received little or nothing at all,” said CFIB senior policy analyst Taylor Brown. .“Businesses want their money back.”.The CFIB in a report Fueling Unfairness: Carbon Pricing And Small Business said promised rebates never materialized. .“While Federation calculations estimate small firms pay close to half the carbon tax revenue collected by government, only .17% of all carbon tax revenues were returned to small businesses between 2019 and 2023,” said the CFIB report..“Increases in the carbon tax coupled with minimal compensation are making the cost of doing business substantially higher, negatively impacting thousands of businesses.” .“Three in five small businesses have seen their overall energy costs increase substantially, over 10%, in the last year while the majority have used the same amount of energy as in previous years.”.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Cabinet in 2018 promised to pay rebates to small businesses under its carbon tax bill, the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. .“Action on climate change is not a gimmick,” said then-Environment minister Catherine McKenna..The department of Environment promised an initial $155 million in rebates for small business. The figure in 2019 was reduced to $150 million and limited to subsidizing the purchase of electric vehicles, high-efficiency appliances, and building refits.. Pierre PoilievrePierre Poilievre .“It’s all stick and no carrot here,” MP Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, ON) then-Conservative Finance critic, told a 2019 Commons Finance committee hearing. .“Where is the carrot for the small business person?”.“When these small business people come into my office and say, ‘My costs are going up, I have to lay someone off or cut someone’s pay,’ I’ll say to them that someday the government is going to announce a program whereby they can fill out a form and maybe staple on their receipts from gas and other expenses that have gone up, and maybe someone in Finance Canada or Environment Canada will reply to them and say, ‘Thanks for your letter,’” said Poilievre..“The government is developing the specifics,” testified Samuel Millar, then-director general of corporate finance for the department of Finance. .“It’s under development.”.Cabinet last November 22 promised a Fuel Charge Proceeds Return Program to pay small business rebates by 2025. Payouts would be “direct payments to eligible small and medium-sized enterprises, specifically those in emissions-intensive and trade-exposed sectors,” it said.
