Carbon Tax Will Take 2% Off Alberta Household Incomes: Economist

A sweeping carbon tax in the oil-rich Canadian province of Alberta will hit residents harder than similar environmental measures in other parts of the country, an economist said.

The tax of C$30 ($22.96) per ton, which comes into effect next year, will cost Albertans 1.5 percent to 2 percent of their household incomes, McGill University’s Chris Ragan said Friday during a Bloomberg Television interview. That’s higher than the impacts of carbon-pricing programs in other provinces because of Alberta’s abundance of oil-sands bitumen and coal-fired electrical plants, Ragan said.