Why Carbon Tax will never work

The Notley Government introduced the carbon tax as part of their “Climate Action Plan’. Its intent was presumably to lower carbon emissions. Right? Maybe not. Let’s have a look at the numbers.

When you look at your gas bill you will see what your cost of gas is. In January (a pretty cold month in Calgary this year) I paid $29.93 for 15.66 Gj. Now about 3 Gj of that is for hot water. So I paid $24.18 for heat.

Research has shown that for every degree you turn down your thermostat, you will save 1% on your gas bill. I like to keep my house at 22 degrees. So lets say I put on a sweater and wool socks and turn down my thermostat to 18 degrees (4 degrees lower). That would save me 4% so .63 Gj. Which is about $0.97. Let’s say I put on a down coat and turn my thermostat down 10 degrees to 12 C in February. That will save me almost $2.42. 

The Notley government charged me $23.76 ($1.52/Gj) in January for the carbon levy presumably so I would turn down my thermostat to save on carbon emissions. 
In order to offset this ‘levy’ I would need to lower my thermostat by 126.6 degrees! No this is not a misprint. Did not slip a decimal point. 

There is no possible way that you as a consumer can offset $30/tonne in carbon levies.– how many more sweaters can you put on in January?

Clearly this carbon tax has nothing to do with reducing carbon emissions  This is a revenue raising exercise. And to what end? 

And the carbon tax will go up again from $30/tonne to $50/tonne. (That’s a 67% increase) It’s baked into the NDP budget released last week. 

It’s time we start having some informed debates about how we solve problems. You deserve honesty.

You should have had a say in this tax increase. I am committed to make sure that in the next government you do have a say and that you are able to make a decision based on facts and how those facts impact you.