National
Canadians pay dearly in gas taxes – it’s only going to get worse
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Author: Jay Goldberg
Two thousand dollars. That’s how much the typical two-car family spends on gas taxes every year.
Big numbers can sometimes be hard to process. But the feeling of dread Canadians get as the gas metre ticks up sure isn’t.
Go to the gas station and you’ll see moms filling up the minivan before soccer practice, praying the metre doesn’t tick past $100 so she can afford to take the kids to McDonald’s after an hour of drills.
Or dads fueling up after a week of long commutes to the office, who might choose to only fill the tank halfway in order to have enough money left over to pick up groceries on the way home for Friday night dinner.
All too often, folks will throw up their hands when they see the gas bill, not knowing who to blame. But the truth is a lot of the fault for high gas prices lies at the feet of our politicians.
The average price of gas in Ontario late last month was $1.66 per litre. Out of that total per litre cost, a whopping 56 cents was taxes.
That means that more than a third of the price of gas is taxes, money going out of the pockets of hardworking families and into the coffers of big government.
A family filling up a Dodge Caravan and Honda Accord once every two weeks ends up paying just shy of two grand in gas taxes over the course of a year.
That’s the equivalent of two months’ worth of groceries for a family of four.
Yes, gas taxes have been around for decades. But politicians today, particularly those in Ottawa, keep driving the tax burden higher and higher.
The Trudeau government’s carbon tax now costs 17.6 cents per litre. For that family filling up the Caravan and Accord once every two weeks, over the course of a year, the carbon tax bill alone will reach $604.
And it’s a cost that wasn’t charged at the pump just six short years ago.
If a 56 cent per litre tax bill sounds bad to you now, just wait until you see what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has in store for Canadians.
Trudeau plans to keep raising his carbon tax each and every year until 2030.
Today, the carbon tax costs 17.6 cents per litre of gas at the pumps. In six years, with Trudeau’s two carbon taxes fully implemented (the second one coming through fuel regulations), that number will be 54.4 cents per litre.
And that will bring the total per litre tax bill to $1.04.
By 2030, that same family filling up the Caravan and Accord every other week will be paying over $1,800 in carbon taxes. And the cost of overall gas taxes per year will hit $3,570.
This is a future Canadians can’t afford. And the federal carbon tax is making that future unaffordable.
The Trudeau government has tried to argue that somehow, by charging a carbon tax, paying bureaucrats to collect the carbon tax, charging sales tax on top of that carbon tax, and then using a magic formula to send some of that money back to taxpayers, Canadians will be better off.
Anyone who buys that should be looking for a beachfront property in Saskatoon.
And there are no refunds for Trudeau’s second carbon tax.
For those wondering, there are politicians out there willing to cut fuel taxes to make life more affordable at the pumps.
Provincial governments of all stripes, from the Liberals in Newfoundland and Labrador to the Progressive Conservatives here in Ontario to the NDP in Manitoba, have cut fuel taxes, saving families hundreds of dollars.
Trudeau’s scheduled carbon tax hikes over the next six years will crush family budgets like an asteroid wiping out the dinosaurs. It’s time for the feds to learn from the provinces and lower costs at the pumps.
That means putting scrapping the carbon tax at the top of the agenda.
New documentary produced by the Canadian Centre For Responsible Drug Policy features a 25-year-old student who purchased thousands of diverted “safer supply” opioids.
The Centre For Responsible Drug Policy, parent organization of Break The Needle, has launched its first mini-documentary: “Government Heroin.” The film follows the story of Callum Bagnall, a 25-year-old student from London, Ontario, who purchased thousands of opioid pills diverted from government-funded “safer supply” programs. Callum recounts how rampant fraud has turned these programs into a an abject disaster, leading to new addictions and immense profits for organized crime.
The film also features Joanne, his anxious mother, as well as Dr. Janel Gracey, an addiction physician whose clinical experiences make it obvious that safer supply is causing a wave of relapses and getting teenagers hooked on “government heroin.”
Subscribe to Break The Needle. Our content is always free – but if you want to help us commission more high-quality journalism, consider getting a voluntary paid subscription.
From the Fraser Institute
By Julio Mejía and Elmira Aliakbari
The resulting reduction in global GHG emissions would amount to a mere four-tenths of one per cent (i.e. 0.004 per cent) with virtually no impact on the climate or any detectable environmental, health or safety benefits.
Last year, when the Trudeau government said it would cap greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the oil and gas sector at 35 to 38 per cent below 2019 levels by 2030, it claimed the cap will not affect oil and gas production.
But a report by Deloitte, a leading audit and consulting firm, found that the cap (which would go into effect in 2026) will in fact curtail production, destroy jobs and cost the Canadian economy billions of dollars. Under Trudeau’s cap, Canada must curtail oil production by 626,000 barrels per day by 2030 or by approximately 10.0 per cent of the expected production—and curtail gas production by approximately 12.0 per cent.
According to the report’s estimates, Alberta will be hit hardest, with 3.6 per cent less investment, almost 70,000 fewer jobs, and a 4.5 per cent decrease in the province’s economic output (i.e. GDP) by 2040. Ontario will lose more than 15,000 jobs and $2.3 billion from its economy by 2040. And Quebec will lose more than 3,000 jobs and $0.4 billion from its economy during the same period.
Overall, the whole country will experience an economic loss equivalent to 1.0 per cent of GDP, translating into lower wages, the loss of nearly 113,000 jobs and a 1.3 per cent reduction in government tax revenues. Canada’s real GDP growth in 2023 was a paltry 1.1 per cent, so a 1 per cent reduction would be a significant economic loss.
Deloitte’s findings echo previous studies on the effects of Ottawa’s cap. According to a recent economic analysis by the Conference Board of Canada, the cap could reduce Canada’s GDP by up to $1 trillion between 2030 and 2040, eliminate up to 151,000 jobs by 2030, reduce federal government revenue by up to $151 billion between 2030 and 2040, and reduce Alberta government revenue by up to $127 billion over the same period.
Similarly, another recent study published by the Fraser Institute found that an emissions cap on the oil and gas sector would inevitably reduce production and exports, leading to at least $45 billion in lost economic activity in 2030 alone, accompanied by a substantial drop in government revenue.
Crucially, the huge economic cost to Canadians will come without any discernable environmental benefits. Even if Canada were to entirely shut down its oil and gas sector by 2030, thus eliminating all GHG emissions from the sector, the resulting reduction in global GHG emissions would amount to a mere four-tenths of one per cent (i.e. 0.004 per cent) with virtually no impact on the climate or any detectable environmental, health or safety benefits.
Given the sustained demand for fossil fuels, constraining oil and gas production and exports in Canada would merely shift production to other regions, potentially to countries with lower environmental and human rights standards such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela.
The Trudeau government’s proposed GHG cap will severely damage Canada’s economy for virtually no environmental benefit. The government should scrap the cap and prioritize the economic wellbeing of Canadians over policies that only bring pain with no gain.
Authors:
Proposed emissions cap threatens critical Canada-U.S. energy trade
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