Getting down to the truth on ‘Gas Tax Honesty Day’
Posted May 16, 2013 7:59 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
One advocacy group plans to lay it all out this morning when it comes to tax and gasoline.
It’s the Canadian Taxpayer Federation’s 15th annual ‘Gas Tax Honesty Day’, where the CTF breaks down how much tax at the pumps goes to line government coffers.
Their report comes hours after a 10 cent hike at a number of gas stations in the city where the average price as of Thursday morning sits at 125.9 for a litre of fuel.
Here in Alberta, motorists paid last year 24.5 cents for every litre of gas.
It’s a little less than the national average at 30 cents and that may be due to the fact that there is no PST.
The CTF believes one of the big problems in years past has been Canada’s practice of taxing the tax.
Right now there is a provincial and federal excise tax levied on gas and GST.
“Gasoline is probably the worst example of it,” says Spokesperson Candice Malcolm. “And I don’t think people realize it, it’s not transparent, and it’s not something that you see on your receipt or like property taxes that you write a cheque for every year…. it’s hidden in the costs.”
“Drivers in this country are really hit the hardest because this is after tax income so this is money that you’re getting after you’ve been taxed on your income, zero money that you’re spending and then you’re getting taxed on it again,” she explains.
Malcolm says they’re just hoping to raise the profile of this issue to show Canadians how much exactly they’re paying out.
This year’s report will be released at 10a.m. Thursday, at the Fair Deal Tires Gas Station in Forest Lawn, where they’re promising a lucky surprise for some customers.
