A carbon tax is an additional tax on people (you) for burning stuff. If you heat with gas, throw wood on the fire, drive a car, ride in a jetliner — you make nasty carbon. Carbon is said to make the environment warmer. That is why the Premier is now talking much more warmly about a carbon tax. She has not said she will do it, but — well — maybe she will. So on that happy day, you will pay for your gasoline (plus all the present taxes that are on it) and you will also pay a carbon tax for burning it. The rationale of the carbon tax is that it will be so painful that people will stop burning carbon. Of course, in the meantime, it would be another “tool” for Ontario to find money that might find its way against the province’s enormous deficit. The scope and breadth of the carbon tax is potentially breathtaking. We burn stuff for everything. The carbon tax comes close to a tax on oxygen. Is there any place you’d rather be? Explained in BC talk
