Carbon tax rebates available as Sask. court challenge approaches

Critics, including Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, have called it an attempt to buy votes ahead of the 2019 federal election, but that doesn’t mean the provincial environment minister wouldn’t accept the tax rebate cheque.

You can apply for your cheque before the tax itself even goes into effect by applying for it when you file your 2018 taxes.

“I suppose I will be, yes. I actually hadn’t thought about it that way, I think people can decide what they want to do with their tax,” Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said through laughter after being asked if he would claim it. “I’ve got kids to feed.”

The Climate Action Incentive will see cheques sent to households this tax season. The money is meant to offset increased costs associated with the federal carbon tax set to be imposed in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick — all provinces that have refused to implement their own carbon pricing systems in line with federal requirements.

In Saskatchewan, the rebates issued in 2019 would be $305 for a single adult or the first adult in a couple, followed by $152 for the second adult in a couple, or the first child for a single parent. Families would get $76 per child. The total would work out to $609 for a two-parent family of four.

According to the federal government, the average rebate across all Saskatchewan households will be $598.

Duncan said the fact people are getting rebates before paying the tax shows this was a taxation issue and not a climate one.

“I don’t really understand the logic of remitting rebates to individuals across the country before you actually pay the tax, I thought you pay the tax and the rebate money comes from that.”

Duncan said there is a cause for concern because businesses will be paying a lot of the money that will be collected from a carbon tax.

“The federal government has indicated that they’re not going to be able to determine, into 2020, how businesses are going to benefit from a rebate system.”

The federal carbon tax itself is due to go into effect in April.

The provincial government’s court challenge against the carbon tax will be heard in February by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.