Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Doug Ives
It’s not an April Fools’ joke: politicians are raising their own salaries at the same time they’re hiking carbon taxes and alcohol taxes.
“The joke is on taxpayers and it isn’t funny as our members of Parliament pocket a pay raise while emptying our wallets with higher carbon and booze taxes,” said Franco Terrazzano, Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).
“Canadians are struggling with higher prices on everything and the least our MPs could do is cancel the cruel April Fools’ Day joke and end the tax hikes.”
On April 1, the federal carbon tax increases to about 11 cents per litre of gasoline, 13 cents per litre of diesel and 10 cents per cubic metre of natural gas. The carbon tax will cost a family about $8.40 every time they fuel up a minivan with gasoline.
The alcohol escalator tax automatically increases federal excise taxes on beer, wine and spirits every year on April 1. Taxes already account for about half of the price of beer, 65 per cent of the price of wine and more than three quarters of the price of spirits.
Meanwhile, MPs are giving themselves pay raises every year on April 1. This year’s pay raise will range from an extra $3,700 for a backbench MP to an additional $7,400 for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, according to the CTF’s estimate based on private-sector union agreements published by the federal government.
“Politicians don’t deserve a raise when they make life less affordable with higher taxes,” said Terrazzano. “The federal government should reverse the pay raises and tax hikes.”
Franco Terrazzano is the Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF). This article originally appeared on the CTF website on Mar. 31, 2022. Reprinted here with permission.
Franco Terrazzano is the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
