The Canada Revenue Agency has spent more than $116 million on carbon tax paperwork alone, records show. Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier in a report to Parliament said 330 employees are now assigned to collecting the fuel charge and processing rebates, according to Blacklock's Reporter..Lebouthillier disclosed the figures in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the House Commons. Data were requested by Conservative MP Chris Warkentin (Grande Prairie-Mackenzie, Alta.) who asked, “What are the annual costs to administer the collection of the carbon tax and rebate program, and how many employees or full-time equivalents are assigned to work on the collection of the carbon tax and rebate program?”.Paperwork costs totaled $116.5 million since 2019, when Parliament passed the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. A total of 300 employees last year were assigned to collecting fuel charges. Another 33 processed rebates intended to offset a portion of costs for home heating, commuting and other expenses..Rebates last year were paid in four provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The tax-and-rebate system effective next July 1, 2023 will also apply to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Minister Lebouthillier did not forecast the expected increase in paperwork costs..Cabinet has maintained most households see more in rebates than they pay in tax. The claim is untrue, the Parliamentary Budget Office said in a report last March 24. “Most households will see a net loss,” said the report A Distributional Analysis Of Federal Carbon Pricing. The carbon tax had a “negative economic impact” on most Canadians, it said..“When the economic impact is combined with the fiscal impact, that is the carbon levy and related GST paid less the rebate received, the net carbon cost increases for all households reflecting the overall negative economic impact of the federal carbon levy,” wrote analysts..Net losses by 2030 would range from $1,145 to $2,282 a year per household on average, wrote analysts. The figures followed in-house Privy Council research that said Canadians considered the carbon tax a costly fee with little environmental benefit..“Some felt the impact would be small or that there would be no impact based on the impression that many people still need to buy things like gas whatever the price,” said a 2020 Focus Groups report by Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc..“It was suggested the average Canadian seems to be hit most by this approach, that it will not be effective if other countries do not do their part and that this approach will increase the overall cost of living,” wrote researchers. The tax is currently charged at 8¢ per litre for propane, 10¢ per cubic metre of natural gas, 12¢ per litre of gasoline, 13¢ for aviation fuel and 14¢ for diesel..“Participants were somewhat ambivalent about the idea of using a price on pollution as an approach to help reduce or combat emissions and combat climate change,” wrote researchers..“It was suggested the average Canadian seems to be hit most by this approach, especially lower-income individuals who would be disproportionately affected by an anticipated overall increase in the cost of living. A few also felt that pricing pollution was a punitive approach.”
