TORONTO, ON:  The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) is applauding Premier Kathleen Wynne's announcement on Monday to create a dedicated fund from existing gas taxes to pay for new transportation infrastructure. The CTF has repeatedly called for such a fund, starting last May when it held a Gas Tax Honesty Day in Ontario, and most recently in CTF’s pre-budget submission.

“This is a win for taxpayers,” continued Malcolm. “Instead of hiking gas taxes or the HST, or imposing new taxes on Ontario’s struggling small businesses, the government will use existing gas taxes to pay for critical infrastructure improvements.”

“It’s nice to know the government is listening to groups like the CTF, and keeping taxpayers in mind when designing its budget,” continued Malcolm. “We’d still like to see a law mandating all revenues from gas taxes be dedicated to roads, and an end to using debt and bonds to finance transit programs, but this is a good start.”

The CTF calculates that the Ontario government will collect over $3 billion in gas taxes this year and another $1.85 billion in HST on gasoline and diesel from motorists, plus another $1.27 billion in Vehicle and Driver Registration Taxes. This totals $6.13 billion in driver taxes raised each year, compared to the $2.7 billion spent by the Ministry of Transportation on all roadway spending.  

“Better late than never,” said Malcolm. “Although, Ontario drivers are so used to being late thanks to never-ending congestion and years of neglect from the government, so we’ll just say thanks for not gouging taxpayers further.”

The CTF’s gas tax honesty day report from 2013 can be found here: https://www.taxpayer.com/media/2013-GTHD-Report-CTF.pdf.