Laser Talk: How much is your Canada Carbon Rebate?

Four times a year Canadians in most provinces are getting something that’s sure to put smiles on their faces: payments of their quarterly Carbon Rebate. An interesting result of the revenue neutrality piece is that because the largest polluters pay the most (because they represent a disproportionate share of emissions), eight out of ten Canadians receive more back through the Canada Carbon rebate than they pay. As the pollution price rises, so will our rebates (see chart above). You can calculate your rebate at the Government of Canada.

Note farmers and small businesses also get rebates and Canadians living outside cities get a 20% top up.

This policy is a testament to Canada’s commitment to addressing both the affordability and climate crises while listening carefully to the people.

Canada’s Carbon Rebate came about large part because citizens engaged our government and generated the political will to enact it. The leaned into a broad spectrum of expertise including Dr. Shi-Ling Hsu, the author of The Case for a Carbon Tax: Getting Past Our Hang-Ups to Effective Climate Policy (2011), the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, Canadians for Clean Prosperity, and more recently the Canadian Climate Institute. We gathered additional insights from the Stockholm Environmental Institute, Oxfam, Americans for Carbon Dividends, and the REMI Report.

Our instincts that carbon fees with dividends is a superb policy were bolstered; thousands of economists in the USA, Europe and Canada have all endorsed carbon fees with rebates. We acknowledge that other policies are necessary as well, but without pricing pollution from fossil fuels and providing rebates, the cost of averting catastrophic climate impacts will impose a much greater burden for the taxpayer.

References for calculations

1 BUDGET CANADA https://budget.canada.ca/2024/report-rapport/chap5-en.html
2 MIRAGE NEWS https://www.miragenews.com/2024-25-carbon-rebate-amounts-unveiled-by-1174079/
3 ENERGY HUB https://www.energyhub.org/carbon-tax-rebate/
4 HUSTLE HUB https://hustlehub.ca/how-to-get-your-carbon-tax-rebate-in-2024-dates/