British Columbia’s carbon tax should be increased by $10 (CAD) per metric ton per year, a group of more than 130 businesses wrote in a letter this week to B.C. Premier Christy Clark. “The province’s carbon tax has been widely praised as an effective climate policy because of its ability to reduce carbon pollution, increase innovation, and support economic growth,” the letter says.
The increase, recommended by the province’s Climate Leadership Team, would begin in July 2018, raising the carbon tax from $30 per metric ton to $40 per metric ton. “In 2008, the Climate Action Plan — with the carbon tax as its central pillar — helped move the province’s economy ahead, it helped boost the province’s reputation and it helped the environment. Taking the next steps on the carbon tax as part of the Climate Leadership Plan is an opportunity to build on those initial successes, and it is an opportunity we must seize as a province,” the group wrote.
