As fuel prices hit historic highs, pressure is growing on governments to lower or eliminate its cut of taxes at the pump.
“I think the governments have no choice,” says Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy. “They’ve got to find ways to slow this down as best they can for the foreseeable future.”
On Tuesday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced the province would temporarily stop collecting its portion of fuel taxes beginning April 1. Alberta’s fuel tax amounts to 13 cents per litre of gasoline and diesel.
All three Maritime provincial governments indicated a monitoring of the rising costs in written statements Tuesday, but had no announcements to make one way or another.
Nova Scotia’s provincial fuel tax is 15.5 cents per litre.
New Brunswick’s provincial fuel tax is 10.87 cents per litre.
Prince Edward Island’s provincial fuel tax is 8.47 cents per litre.
The federal government’s carbon tax is scheduled to increase to 11 per cent on April 1.
“I think at a time when we’re seeing gas get closer and closer to that $2 a litre mark, it might be time for the feds to hit pause on those plans to hike taxes,” says Renaud Brossard of the Canadian Taxpayers Association.
There’s concern about what impact a cut in any gasoline tax might have against a volatile global market.
“That could have a minor effect,” says Constantine Passaris, an economics professor at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. “The thing I’m worried about is the inflation that gasoline costs are creating in the economy are of an external nature. So it’s not something we can control internally.”
“I’m afraid the government is equally dependent on the revenues from the taxes on gasoline and other aspects to feed into the higher cost of operating the government.”
