Dear Editor:
In response to the Government of Ontario asking for input for the 2020 budget, I made two submissions. Here is the second one.
The carbon tax works! Instead of wasting taxpayer’s money fighting the carbon tax, please support it, because I got back more money than I was taxed for burning fossil fuels last year. For the last two years I’ve kept track of the fuel burned in my car, the natural gas burned to provide heating and my electricity usage.
In 2018 my carbon footprint was 2.68 tonnes (car) + 4.75 tonnes (heating) + 0.12 tonnes (electricity) = 7.55 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Knowing the carbon tax was coming and that it would increase yearly, I did the following during 2019 to reduce my carbon footprint: put solar panels on my roof; purchased battery storage as I don’t feed into Hydro’s grid, purchased a plug-in hybrid vehicle and improved my attic insulation from R30 to R60.
In 2019 my carbon footprint was 1.36 tonnes (car) + 4.72 tonnes (heating) + 0.08 tonnes (Electricity) = 6.16 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Since the tax in 2019 was $20/tonne, I paid a carbon tax of $123.20, but I got back $154 + 10% (because of where I live) = $169.40 or $46.20 more than I paid!
This year I will get back more because my improvements were phased in over the last year, and I will get back a larger tax rebate as the tax increases.
So please support the carbon tax. I’ll be really ticked if I don’t get my rebate! It encouraged me to reduce my carbon footprint and made me feel good because I helped fight against the climate crisis. I believe it has had a similar effect on many other Ontarians.
Ron Moore,
Hillsburgh