The Pallister government says it doesn’t want to lump the PST on top of the federal carbon tax coming April 1.
The province says the federal government will charge GST on the carbon tax, it says it won't follow suit with its sales tax.
"We're not going to put a tax on a tax, we think it's bad public policy, we don't agree with it," said Manitoba Finance Minister Scott Fielding.
The Manitoba government says it will put an exemption in place, ensuring the provincial sales tax won't be applied to the carbon tax when it comes to natural gas bills. It says this will save Manitobans $3.6 million.
"That will have impacts on Manitoba families and we want to make sure that people are supported,” said Fielding.
Jonathan Alward, Manitoba director, Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says the break is welcome news.
"Businesses need tax relief, this carbon tax is going to be a huge burden on them and hopefully this is a step to not make a bad problem even worse," said Alward.
Not everyone sees it that way. NDP Leader Wab Kinew calls the measure a distraction.
"This announcement today is maybe going to save the average family a dollar and a quarter a year, meanwhile your hydro bills have gone up by more than one hundred dollars,” said Kinew.
-with a file from The Canadian Press
