Canadian consumers - not businesses - feel full brunt of carbon tax: Poll
Federal LIberal supporters ranked behind Greens, NDP in feeling that biz will pass on carbon tax costs to consumers
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OTTAWA — Canadians feel businesses will feel little impact from an industrial carbon tax, new polling suggests.
In a new poll conducted by Leger on behalf of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), nearly half of those polled say that businesses will pay little of the cost of an industrial carbon tax and instead largely pass that pain on to consumers.
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That’s in addition to the quarter of respondents who say some of the cost of will end up coming out of the pockets of consumers, and just 12% who say businesses will bear most of the cost of a carbon levy.
The poll, says CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano, shows that most Canadians understand that it’s everyday people that bear the brunt of carbon taxes, not large corporations.
“A carbon tax is a carbon tax is a carbon tax, and Canadians can’t afford to keep paying more to fuel up their cars, heat their homes or buy groceries,” he said.
Despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of punitive tariffs on Canadian imports changing the channel on Canadian political discourse, the carbon tax still plays heavily in the lead up to the next federal election.
While Liberal leadership frontrunner Mark Carney has suggested canning the consumer carbon tax in favour or tightening the levy for industry, observers — and many Canadians — say the move will eventually end up putting financial pressure on everyday Canadians.
Discarding respondents without an opinion, the number of those who say businesses will pay little of the carbon tax jumps to 55% — with Bloc Québécois and Conservative supporters feeling the strongest.
In fact, supporters of the federal LIberal party ranked well behind the Green Party and NDP in feeling that businesses pass on the costs of industrial carbon taxes to the consumer.
“Carbon taxes on refineries make gas more expensive, carbon taxes on utilities make home heating more expensive and carbon taxes on fertilizer plants increase costs for farmers and that makes groceries more expensive,” Terrazzano said.
The poll was conducted via Leger’s online panel of 1,527 Canadian adults between January 24 to 26, 2025.
As margins of error cannot be applied to online panels, a comperable porbnably sample would yield an MOE of no greater than ±2.1%, 19 times out of 20.
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