• More than 100% of fuel taxes collected in Saskatchewan put back into road work

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) released its 12th Annual Gas Tax Honesty Day Report today to inform Canadians across the country on the amount of taxes they pay at the pump and to hold governments accountable for how those dollars are spent.
 
Saskatchewan residents will be pleased to know that just over 100 per cent of all dollars raised through fuel taxes in the province will be put back into road construction and repair. When the CTF launched its Gas Tax Honesty Day campaign back in 1998, just 18 per cent of fuel taxes raised in Saskatchewan were actually spent on road work.
 
“We’ve been fighting for twelve years to ensure fuel taxes are actually spent on what they were meant for – road work,” said CTF Prairie Director Colin Craig. “The next step is for the federal government to end the practice of applying the GST on top of all other fuel taxes.”
 
The CTF estimates that the average two-car family in Canada will pay $1,095/year in gas taxes in 2010, and that the average pump price will be$1.04/litre, of which 32 per cent - or 33 cents – will be paid in taxes. For Saskatchewan residents, the average pump price over the past year was $1.01, of which 30 per cent – or 30 cents – were taxes.
 
High taxes at the pump can be attributed to:

• Federal and provincial excise taxes, averaging 25 cents/litre;
  GST “tax-on-tax,” applying not only to the market price, but to other built-in taxes as well costing 1.3 cents/litre; and
• Quebec Sales Tax (QST) “tax-on-tax-on-tax,” applying to the market price, built-in taxes and the GST at a cost of 2.2 cents/litre.

In addition to already high taxes, many Canadians also face increases this year at the pump in the form of:

• The coming Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) in Ontario, adding 8 cents/litre; and
• BC’s steadily increasing Carbon Tax, rising to 4.5 cents/litre.

CTF federal director Kevin Gaudet took aim, stating that, “One-third of the cost of filling up the family car goes straight to the government. That means that for an average family with two mid-sized cars, they are shelling out more than $1,000 a year to the government for the privilege of filling-up the tank, in addition to the actual cost of gas itself.”
 
Regarding tax changes coming into effect on July 1st, Gaudet added, “If all Canadians weren’t already being taken for a ride by high gas taxes, Ontarians and British Columbians face significant increases this year in the form of the HST and carbon taxes. Each litre of gasoline in Ontario will cost an additional 8 cents with the HST, and each litre in BC cost a continually increasing 4.5 cents on account of its needless carbon tax.”

Read the 12th annual Gas Tax Honesty report here.