With the carbon tax fight in the courts, the economic impact of the proposed tax is unknown at this point, but Paul Martin of Martin Charlton Communications is concerned about the impact of the tax.

It’s difficult to figure out how it will be imposed, depending on the industry one is in.

“Probably the more contentious piece is how that money is going to be given back or refunded back to the marketplace,” Martin said. “In very broad terms, it’s taken back from business and consumers and given back only to consumers.”

Small business will be the losers in all of this, Martin said.

“Just a couple days ago, StatsCan came out with an analysis of the profit and loss picture for businesses in food and beverage (industry), and if you look at it nationally there’s some movement, but the ones that had the slowest growth, the lowest top line and the least ability to increase prices was business in Saskatchewan,” Martin said.

It was the second year in a row that these businesses were feeling the pinch, and with a 30 percent loss over the last few years.

“If you’re running a food service operation and you see your bottom line go down 30 percent and then someone comes along and says ‘we’ll put a tax on you’, no wonder you’re going to complain,” Martin said.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business put out a release indicating that small businesses will pay about 50 percent of the carbon tax but only get seven percent back.

The impact consumers will feel isn’t fully known yet.

“You will see costs go up, and that’s just plain and simple,” Martin said. “For consumers, with their own consumption being taxed... they will be getting a rebate but it won’t look quite the same. A lot of the other costs will be hidden. There won’t be a direct tax on you. But the cost of goods is going to go up for you because all of those businesses that supply those goods are going to have to raise their rates, and it will flow through the entire economy.”

Martin said that there isn’t much clarity on how rebates will go.

Also, we share the oil patch with North Dakota and with the flat economy of Saskatchewan against the red hot economy of North Dakota, and the two economies stand at opposition despite the similarities in resource development.

“That’s not the price of oil, that’s politics,” he said.

Martin isn’t sure what to expect from the province’s fight with the feds in court.