How Oil is subsidized by our tax $. Only tax exempt home energy source.
I get the part about being taxed on creating electricity actually. It's something you're selling. But it should be taxed at low corporate rates and be HST exempt or all the materials used to purchase should be HST exempt. After all, you can bet provinces offer all kinds of incentives to keep businesses operating.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-electricity-hst-solar-net-metering-1.4139700
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Yeah, being taxed on the commodity you're selling (whether it be widgets or kilowatts) is fine. But any other way of taxing it is sketchy. Clicking on the article now ...
ReplyDeleteAHA! Okay, so it's a sorta wonky situation. He's paying tax on the electricity he uses when he's not producing, and I think that's fairish. So here's how I think it should be working:
ReplyDelete1. Produce power, dump into the grid, sell at going rate, pay the "producer" tax the same as gramma pays tax when she sells knitted toques at the fair, and be sure to add it to your income tax file, as well as all the infrastructure + maintenance.
2. Use grid power at night, pay the various fees and taxes on what you use because that's how taxation works. The other solution is to store the power in batteries (and we can have long conversations about the pros and cons of various technologies).
But I do get it ... it seems ridiculous at face value - a net zero home that produces more power than it consumes over a year seems like it should qualify for some sort of tax relief.
All that said, it's a similar situation to "peak power" - a house, or more importantly a large industrial complex, pays for power at the "peak rate," even if that peak rate only occurred for 6 seconds during the start sequence of a large motor.
I agree, he's being paid so he should pay tax on that income but either all utilities should get the HST tax break or none of them. Currently only the oil companies get that break in PEI. That's an unfair advantage. That is also why oil was so much more profitable than any other energy for so long - because it got subsidies and tax incentives from governments that no other utility got. We're finally leveling the playing field for solar and wind.
ReplyDeleteOh for sure, I totally didn't mention it, but when I read that their heating oil was getting a tax break I was aghast. I realize that people need heat to live, so a break on the fuel required for heat seems almost reasonable. These days, though, any energy that is used for heating should be given a tax break. If they wanna split hairs, offer a tax break on the heating portion of the bill ... I dunno, just ... ridiculous. SMH
ReplyDeleteActually I think he should only pay tax on the excess power he sells not all the power he produces since he didn't get any construction breaks.
ReplyDeleteGood point. In either case, the hubbub should spur the government to modernize their policies.
ReplyDelete