Federal government must return to small- and medium-sized businesses the carbon taxes it collects in a timely fashion

Halifax, November 22, 2022 – With the federal carbon tax backstop imposed in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is calling on Ottawa to return the taxes collected from small- and medium-sized businesses in a timely fashion.

“It’s simple: businesses want their money back,” said Louis-Philippe Gauthier, CFIB Vice-President in Atlantic Canada. “In the provinces where Ottawa is administering the carbon tax, it committed to returning $1.62 billion of carbon taxes to businesses in the 2021 Economic and Fiscal Update. As of today, no programming is in place to return these funds. No tax relief, no rebates, no grants. Nothing.”

An estimated $22 billion will have been collected by the end of fiscal 2022-23 through the federal carbon tax backstop. Since the implementation of the federal carbon tax, Ottawa has only returned $106 million to small- and medium-sized businesses through the Climate Action Incentive Fund SME Project Stream in provinces where it manages the tax.

“These unreturned taxes are sitting in limbo right now. This can’t continue to be the situation once the federal carbon tax backstop starts in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Gauthier. “It didn’t take years for Ottawa to send households rebate checks. A simple mechanism needs to be in place for small- and medium-sized businesses in the three Atlantic provinces once the federal government starts administering the tax in July 2023.”

For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Louis-Philippe Gauthier, CFIB Vice President, Atlantic
(506) 961-5706
Louis-Philippe.Gauthier@cfib.ca 

About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 95,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.