It's day one for promoting B.C.'s new budget -- and once again, the talk is all green.

"What this budget does is honour the commitment to actually do something about climate change, and not just be a government that talks about it," said B.C.'s Finance Minister, Carole Taylor.

The big feature is the carbon tax. Starting in July, all fossil fuels from gasoline to home heating oil will face higher taxes.

The carbon tax proposed in yesterday's budget speech will apply to heating oil, natural gas, propane and gasoline, which will jump at the pump by 2.4 cents a litre on Canada Day.

That will triple over the next four years. All the money raised will be returned through tax cuts.

But the big question is: will this change the habits of British Columbians? B.C.'s opposition says no.

"I think it's not going to change behaviour and I'm concerned about that," said NDP leader Carole James.

Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria said that it will be one of many factors that makes a difference.

"The two cents a litre in and of itself probably will not," said Weaver. "The key element is that there is a signal that the price is going up and that's what's going to affect behaviour."

Federal government nixes carbon tax idea

The federal government won't follow B.C.'s lead and charge a carbon tax to fight climate change, the federal environment minister says.

John Baird said the Tories prefer to pass regulations instead of taxes when it comes to convincing industry and the public to support actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

That means British Columbians aren't likely to take a double hit if both governments were going to put forth a carbon tax.

He said Ottawa and B.C. are not at odds on the environment but have different approaches to the issue.

British Columbians have mixed opinions on a new gas tax announced in the provincial budget on Tuesday, as gas prices at the pump rose after oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel.

Price of gas climbing

The price of gas was $1.14 per litre at one gas station at Main Street and West 2nd Avenue in Vancouver on Wednesday morning.

"They can't keep adding more tax just because someone wants to change behaviours," said one man at a gas station at Main Street and West 2nd Avenue in Vancouver.

"I drive a lot and I drive alone ... and I feel bad sometimes," said another commuter.

B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor announced a 2.41 cents per litre tax on gasoline on Tuesday, as well as a 2.2 cents per litre levy on diesel and home heating oil by July of this year. But the tax will be balanced by a rebate for income-earners of less than $70,000, she said.

Dr. Andrew Weaver, one of Canada's Nobel Prize-winning scientists, says B.C. is showing true leadership by implementing a carbon tax.

"From a perspective of North America, this is leadership,'' he said. "From a perspective in Canada, it's so far above anything else that's happening, it's mind-boggling.''

Tax to hurt truckers, landlords

Paul Landry of the B.C. Trucking Association said the budget "is going to hurt."

Landry said the average cost of the province's new rules would be about $1000 per long-haul trucker per year, and that extra cost would be passed on to consumers in B.C.

The cost wouldn't be made up by the reduction in small business taxes, said Landry.

Each adult and child in B.C. will get a $100 rebate, and lower-income people from B.C. will be eligible for a $100 payment per adult and a $30 payment per child as part of a Climate Action Credit.

And the bottom two personal income tax rates will drop two per cent in 2008 and five per cent in 2009 on the first $70,000 income.

"We were expecting more interest in returning some of that carbon tax taken from the industry into industry-related programs," said Landry. "We hoped to see more."

Al Kemp, the CEO of the Rental Owners and Managers Society of B.C. said the new taxes, combined with government regulation of rental housing, puts landlords between a rock and a hard place.

"Someone running a hotel or a grocery story is in a position to increase their prices," he said. "I can't -- I can only increase by a maximum of four per cent a year."

The other option -- to put in double-paned glass and other efficiency measures -- is a massive cost that would be well over the amount of money landlords could raise each year through rent increases, he said.

Premier Gordon Campbell said he hopes B.C. will serve as an example, and that British Columbians have real choices on battling climate change through tax breaks and environmentally-friendly alternatives, such as energy-efficient cars and appliances.

Taylor said she wanted the budget to incite social change.

Two and a half cents is just a start, said Taylor.

"I don't think we're under any illusions that the big results will come at this low level. But I do believe that in order to have a community that buys into what we're trying to do we had to start low," she said.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jim Beatty and files from The Canadian Press