• MooseGas@kbin.social
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    2 years ago

    I don’t understand why they don’t use carbon tax revenues to fund public transit, electric car rebates, and other noticeable benefits. Instead, I pay carbon tax to heat my house, on my fuel and I still have to pay $20 a day in transit.

    Instead, it’s a black hole of who knows where it goes. This is the Canadian way of solving problems though. More taxes and no accountability until it bites us in the ass.

    I’m just going to edit to add:

    Electric cars aren’t great in Canada. Distances are often too far and cold weather really restricts batteries. We will always need some type of fuel.

    Same with home heating. Heat pumps don’t work in very cold weather. We will still need to burn fuel.

    In both cases we are paying carbon tax when we really have choice of “cleaner” alternatives.

    • Kichae@lemmy.ca
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      2 years ago

      Instead, it’s a black hole of who knows where it goes.

      It goes into those cheques they mail out every few months, that they somehow completely failed to label “carbon tax rebate” cheques.

    • Sir_Osis_of_Liver@kbin.social
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      2 years ago

      The federal carbon tax doesn’t go into a black hole its rebated back to taxpayers.

      Atlantic Canada only got limited access to natural gas in the last fifteen years. Most homes are heated by electricity or fuel oil, both more expensive than NG. After the oil shocks of the 70s, governments incentivized switching to electricity. Over 60% of houses in NB are heated that way, mostly by baseboard heaters. Baseboards are roughly 100% efficient, while heat pumps are 2 to 3 times that.

      Air to air heat pumps work down to about -20C, after that the heating coils will kick in. That’s when heat pumps gets more expensive, on par with baseboards.

      Base rwd Model 3 has a range of 430kms. With a 20% drop, you’re still at 345kms in really cold weather. Even in Toronto, 75% of driving commutes are less than 25kms, and it’s the worst case scenario.

      One thing people like to ignore, average house sizes have doubled since the 1960s (1200sq ft to 2400sq ft) even as families became smaller than ever. Add in stupid fashions like 10ft ceilings, and heating costs are going to go nowhere but up.

    • joshhsoj1902@lemmy.ca
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      2 years ago

      It’s not a black hole. It’s nearly completely paid back to Canadians evenly such that most Canadians get more back.

      What’s also neat is that every single province could do exactly what you’re suggesting. All the federal government mandated was a price on carbon, each province could implement whatever system they wanted.

      Like everything these days, our worst problems are at the provincial levels, and people don’t seem to understand or realize that.