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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau misled Canadians when he promised his national carbon pricing plan would be revenue neutral for the federal government.

As a report by the independent, non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Frechette confirmed Tuesday, Trudeau’s government is already raking in hundreds of millions of dollars annually from provincial carbon pricing, even before his mandatory national carbon pricing plan kicks in next year.

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That’s because of the 5% federal Goods and Services Tax, a broad-based consumption tax charged to the final amount of goods and services.

Because carbon pricing, regardless of whether done through a carbon tax or cap and trade, raises the cost of goods and services, the application of the GST to those higher prices provides Ottawa with an entirely new revenue stream.

Thus, when Trudeau’s national carbon pricing plan kicks in next year, his government will, in short order, be raking in billions of dollars from carbon pricing.