Federal carbon tax begins on Wednesday, $20 a tonne

Although the UCP government scrapped the carbon tax earlier this year, Albertans will begin paying the federal government’s carbon levy on Wednesday.

On Jan 1, 2020, gas prices will jump anywhere from 4-7 cents at the pumps and roughly a dollar a gigajoule for natural gas, it is estimated.

The federal carbon levy starts at $20 a tonne and increases to $50 a tonne by 2022. It will jump to $30 a tonne by April 2020.

However, the incentives for the national program are set to upgrade from the province’s system.

The rebate amounts for a single adult or first adult in a couple are $444, a second adult in a couple or first child of a single parent receives $222, or each child under 18 receives $111.

The rebate amounts are fixed no matter how much carbon is used by a consumer.

The federal government dropped the rebate amounts following Alberta’s removal of the tax.

The Alberta Government is challenging the tax in court and joins Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick as provinces that don’t impose their own.

Earlier this month, the feds accepted the Alberta government’s plan to price the levy at $30 a tonne for large emitters like oilsands operations and natural gas producers.

Alberta believes that accounts for 55-60 per cent of the province’s greenhouse gas emissions.