Millions of Canadians get their carbon tax rebates today. So why do many not believe it?

About $2.3 billion in federal carbon-tax rebates will be paid out to roughly 12 million Canadians today, even though many of them may not realize it.

The quarterly payments go out to every tax-filing adult household in the eight provinces where the federal carbon tax applies: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Canada Revenue Agency says 81 per cent of those folks will get their money via direct deposit, while cheques will be mailed to the other 19 per cent.

And yet, many Canadians who are eligible for the rebates don't believe they actually receive them, according to recent polling by the Angus Reid Institute. (Not to mention the plethora of online comments whenever the carbon tax is in the news.)

The rebates range in value depending on the size of your household and where you live. A single adult living in P.E.I. gets $120 every three months, while a a family of four living in rural Alberta gets $425.

So why do many people not believe it?

Experts say a few factors are likely at play. Either these folks are actually missing out because they haven't filed their income taxes, or they're simply not noticing the money when it arrives, or they're mistaking it for some other type of payment from the government.

If you're married or have a common-law partner, the rebate goes to only one spouse in the household. So it's also possible some spouses are receiving the funds without the other spouse knowing.

Underpinning all this is «a failure at the most basic level of retail political communication» by the federal Liberal government about one its flagship policies, says Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute.

'What we have here is a