10th Annual Gas Tax Honesty Day

The Canadian Tax payers Federation announced their 10th annual gas tax honesty day to bring awareness of the amount of federal and provincial taxes you pay at the pump.

Facts

• The average price of gas has increased over 17%.
• Gasoline taxes account for approximately 28% of the price of gas.
• Gas prices are expected to increase if Canada adopts the carbon tax.
• GST is charges on top of the existing taxes included in gas resulting in a tax-on-tax.
• The federal government only spends 7% on read maintenance while municipalities have spend more overall on road maintenance.

Canadian tax payer Federation director John Williamson is quoted a s saying:

“Ottawa will collect approximately $5-billion in direct gasoline and diesel taxes this year. Another $1-billion will come from the GST,” said federal director John Williamson. “The good news is Ottawa will spend $1.95-billion or 37% of its gas and diesel tax revenue on roads and highway infrastructure this year. The amount will increase to 52% next year when roadway spending is scheduled to hit $2.7-billion. This level of spending exceeds the 50% target first advocated by the CTF in 2002. Four years ago the federal government spent only 7% of gas tax revenues on roads making this an impressive turnabout. This is a partial victory for motorists. To complete it, gas taxes need to be lower.”

Williamson continued, “The bad news is some are calling for new taxes on most sources of energy, including gasoline. Consumers should be under no illusion, enacting a carbon tax will mean higher energy prices and a tax increase on the middle class. As a result of B.C.’s carbon tax, gas prices in the province will increase by 2.41¢ on Canada Day and by 7.23¢ in 2012. It will impact family budgets.”

What are your thoughts?

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