渥太华的碳税对遏制全球变暖毫无作用

由于安大略省，曼尼托巴省，萨斯喀彻温省和新不伦瑞克省没有按照全国标准对二氧化碳排放收费的政策，联邦政府于2019年4月1日开始向这些省份征收“碳税” 。同样，2019年7月1日起，将渥太华将对北部三个特区征收碳税。

The Federal Government imposed the “carbon tax” on April 1, 2019 to provinces that have no carbon-pricing scheme that meets national standards — Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. A carbon price will be levied in the three northern territories starting July 1, 2019.

消费者个人不用直接向联邦政府支付碳税。渥太华通过向燃料、生产和分销燃料的公司征收碳税，这些公司再把碳税转嫁给消费者。

Carbon taxes are not paid directly to the federal government by consumers. Instead, Ottawa will impose the tax on fuel and production and distribution companies, which will in turn pass on those costs to customers.


 
有人曾预计，碳税实施后，汽油价格将立即上涨4.42分/升，轻质燃料油（家庭取暖燃料）将上涨5.37分，天然气每立方米上涨3.91分，丙烷每升上周3.10分。

It was anticipated that prices on gasoline will immediately increase by 4.42 cents a litre for gasoline, 5.37 cents for light fuel oil (home heating fuel), 3.91 cents per cubic metre for natural gas and 3.10 cents per litre for propane.

碳税预计每年都会上涨，因为碳税每年将上涨10元/吨，到2022年，碳税将达到50元/吨 。这意味着在不到三年的时间内，碳税要增加一倍以上。为了减小这种税收负担，渥太华承诺，从2018年开始，它将会把其收取的碳税通过退税的方式退还给个人。有人怀疑这一碳税政策是否是真的"收支平衡"，暗示渥太华会在如何在会计做账时动手脚。

Those costs are expected to rise each year as the carbon tax increases by $10/tonne until it hits $50 in 2022 — meaning those costs will more than double in less than three years' time. To offset this tax burden, Ottawa promised to return every single dollar it collects in carbon tax to the people in the province in which it was collected in the form of a rebate to be claimed on their 2018 tax return with the Canada Revenue Agency. Skeptics questioned the “revenue-neutral” label of the carbon tax, suggesting that it is an possible accounting task.


 
政策宣布后，许多人在社交媒体上谴责这一政策。人们不认为那些几乎垄断所在行业的的排污大户不会有任何动力找新的清洁能源取代现有的能源，他们会直接把碳税转嫁给消费者。 对他们来说，碳税只是做生意的成本，可以轻易回收。

Since then, many postings came up on social media condemning this action. People cannot see how the taxes will cause carbon gas emitters to seek alternate clean sources of energy or install pollution capturing equipment since many of them are monopoly's in their field and the taxes are passed directly onto the consumers. This means that the taxes are just part of the costs for doing business that can be recovered.

汽油价格的上涨立即会引起人们的关注，因为它是开车人日常生活的一部分。支持者碳税的人声称增加的碳税微不足道，而反对碳税的人担心这可能导致运输成本增加，并将引发所有消费品新一轮的价格上涨。汽油价格的组成，特别是税收成分，再一次成为人们谈论的话题。

The focus immediately falls on the increase for the price of gasoline since it impacts all drivers on a daily basis. Carbon tax supporters claim that the increases are insignificant while those who oppose the tax fear that this can result in addition transportation costs and will set off another round of price increases for all consumer goods. Once again, the overall pricing structure of gasoline, in particular the tax components, fuel the discussions.



1973年，我的开车用油是“含铅”的汽油，并以加仑（4.54升）出售。那时，每加仑52分，以1973年的币值算，每升11.42分。当然，那时最低小时工资低于每小时2元。世界石油垄断组织，即石油输出国组织（OPEC）于1973年后不久限制了石油产量，导致油价大幅上涨。

When I first started to drive in 1973, only “leaded” gasoline was available and they were sold in gallons (4.54 litres). At that time, it was 52 cents per gallon or 11.42 cents per litre in 1973 dollars. Of course, back then the minimum hourly wage was under $2. The action of the Arab Petroleum Cartel - Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) restricted oil production shortly after that year led to a dramatic rise in oil prices.

2019年4月1日，安大略省的汽油价格约为每升1.24元（含碳税）。如果我告诉你汽油生产商，制造商，经销商和零售商（合并）的油价只有82分或标价的65.8％，你会感到惊讶吗？换句话说，超过三分之一的汽油价格是各类税收。

Gasoline prices were around $1.24 per litre (with the carbon tax included) on April 1, 2019 in Ontario. If I tell you that the gasoline producers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers (combined) only take home 82 cents or 65.8% of the price at the pumps, will you be surprised? In other words, over one third of what you pay for gasoline are taxes.


 
从汽油中征收的税收直接流向联邦和省两级政府。联邦政府征收每升10分的固定税（自1995年起生效）。油价中还含5％的商品和服务税，然后税上加税，再次征收HST税。新的碳税将让油价再加4分（另加HST）。这实际上是对第二次征收的税收或所谓的“税上加税”征税 - 对大多数纳税人来说，这是一种令人厌恶的做法。

The taxes collected from gasoline go directly to the two levels of government – Federal and Provincial. The federal government charges an excise tax at a flat rate of 10 cents per litre on gasoline (in effect since 1995). A 5% Goods and Service tax is applied to this excise tax immediately and subject to further HST tax again as part of the final retail price. The new Carbon Tax will add another 4 cents (subject to HST as well). This is in effect, taxing on imposed taxes a second time or what is known as “double-dipping” - a loathsome practice to most taxpayers.

另外，安省政府还要再征收14.7分的省燃油税。同样，HST要另外加上。必须指出的是，省燃油税为安省的天然气税计划提供资金，为通勤者和家庭提供更多的交通选择。另外，省府还要返回2.5分给省内105个市政府(2019年为4.013亿元)，2021年增加到每升4分（6.42亿元）。

Ontario government applies another 14.7 cents of Provincial Fuel Tax per litre. Again, HST will be charged on top of this to add to the final price. It must be noted that Provincial Fuel Tax is funding Ontario’s gas tax program to create more transit options for commuters and families and it provides 105 municipalities with 2.5 cents per litre of provincial gas tax revenues ($401.3 million in 2019). This will be increased to 4 cents per litre ($642 million) in 2021.
 

 
为挑战联邦制定的温室气体污染定价法案，安省政府已经把联邦告上法庭。目前案子在安大略省上诉法院启动。该官司不打全球变暖的是否现实或危险的问题，而是打究竟哪级负责处理这一问题。

Ontario's constitutional challenge to the federal Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act has started at the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto. It was not intended as a debate on the realities or dangers of global warming but rather, which level of government has the power to deal with the problem.
 
上诉法庭案件需要几个月的时间来决定这个官司。如果联邦保守党在今年10月的大选中上台，他们将“废除”碳税，这个官司自然也就打不下去了。碳税不会对解决全球变暖问题有显着帮助，因为加拿大的碳排放只占全球的1.6％。我们不要以碳排放为借口征税！

This court case will take many months to decide. If the Federal Conservatives comes to power in the next election in October this year, they will “scrap” the Carbon Tax and make this whole legal exercise in Ontario meaningless. The Carbon Tax is not going to help significantly in solving global warming (if this is indeed true) as Canada is producing only 1.6% of the world's total. Let us not use that as an excuse for more taxes!