The Yukon Party wants to know if Yukoners will recoup extra Goods and Services Tax (GST) they may pay on fossil fuels after the carbon tax comes into force.

In April 2016, the Canada Revenue Agency said the GST will be applied to the total price of fuel, including provincial carbon taxes, at the pumps.

Alberta and British Columbia already have carbon taxes in place. In those provinces, the provincial carbon taxes are subject to the five per cent GST.

If the carbon tax works similarly in the Yukon, it could see Yukoners paying more in GST on various goods and services.

Whether this will indeed be the case in the Yukon remains unclear.

The Liberals promised that 100 per cent of carbon tax revenues would be rebated to Yukoners and Yukon businesses.

But what of extra GST potentially generated by the increased cost of fuel – will Yukoners see a return on that too?

On Tuesday, interim Yukon Party Leader Stacey Hassard put this question to the Liberals.

“Can the government commit today that every single Yukoner will get 100 per cent of the extra money they pay as a result of the carbon tax, including the increased amount they pay into the GST?”

Premier Sandy Silver is in Washington, D.C. this week, leading a joint mission of Canadian premiers, so Deputy Premier Ranj Pillai took questions in his place.

Pillai said would be “premature” to answer such “focused questions.”

The Yukon is working with the federal government this summer on a study of the impacts of the carbon tax, he said.

The federal government will consider the results of the analysis before the carbon tax is implemented.

It’s estimated that Alberta and B.C. will each generate up to $65 million in GST revenue off carbon taxes in 2017-18, if businesses pass on the full amount of carbon taxes to consumers.

This is according to a recent report from the Library of Parliament that was requested by B.C. Conservative MP Mark Warawa.

The Yukon has agreed to the federal carbon pricing “backstop” – so called because it’s the mechanism that will be used in provinces and territories that don’t develop their own carbon pricing plans.

The backstop would see a carbon tax of 2.33 cents added to a litre of gasoline in 2018. The tax would rise each year to 11.63 cents in 2022. Dirtier fuels would carry heavier taxes.

Hassard asked whether the Liberals are aware that the carbon tax would itself be taxed when they signed on to the federal carbon pricing plan.

Pillai did not give a direct answer, but said his government would “ask the tough questions,” and do its due diligence as it prepares for the backstop.

He later told reporters that the premier has been having “very robust conversations with Ottawa” on the GST question.

Hassard suggested Tuesday that the carbon tax may also be subject to the territorial fuel tax.

The Yukon fuel tax adds 6.2 cents a litre of gasoline and 7.2 cents a litre of diesel.

“Yukon’s fuel tax applies to the base (price of fuel). The tax is calculated on the number of litres and not on the final price,” said Finance Department spokesperson Eric Clement.

He said this should still be the case after the carbon tax arrives.

“Yukon’s fuel tax applies to the base. The tax is calculated on the number of litres and not on the final price.”

In the House on Tuesday, Pillai said it was the previous Yukon Party governmfent that laid the groundwork for a carbon tax in the territory.

Pillai was likely referring to the Vancouver declaration on clean growth and climate change, a document signed by then-Yukon Party premier Darrell Pasloski.

The Vancouver declaration is a commitment to reduce Canada’s emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels by the year 2030.

Canada’s premiers agreed to achieve this goal through a variety of measures, including some form of carbon pricing.

“The ink that landed on paper to start this process of engagement on this strategy came from across the aisle,” said Pillai.

“The official Opposition signed the agreement.”