’It is a tax because it will raise costs’

In protesting the NDP’s cap-and-trade proposal, Vic Toews adds to the definition of a tax.

They can call it whatever they want, but the NDP plan to make carbon a commodity will raise prices on consumer costs for Canadians. It is a tax because it will raise costs.

The Conservatives have already posited that "carbon pricing in any form is a carbon tax," which would seem to cover the cap-and-trade and carbon-pricing policies they used to advocate for. But if anything that increases costs is also a tax, then seemingly even the Harper government’s current regulatory approach could be described as a tax.