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Gas tax 31 cents on every dollar at pump, taxpaper group says

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 05/14/2009 8:01 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

WINNIPEG — The Canadian Taxpayers Federation wants you to know how much tax you’re paying when you fill up your vehicle’s gas tank.

In Manitoba, it’s 31 cents on every dollar you spend at the pump. The national average is 37 cents on the dollar, the group says.

But just across the border in North Dakota, it’s less than 19 per cent of the pump price, the CTF said Thursday outside a Portage Avenue service station where it held its 11th annual "Gas Tax Honesty Day" protest.

Part of the reason for Canada’s high gas prices is the fact that the GST is applied on top of other taxes, the tax watchdog said.

Eliminating the federal government’s "tax-on-a-tax" approach was one of Prime Minister Harper’s commitments while in opposition, the group noted.

"The provincial government tables a report each year that clearly shows it spends more on roads than it raises in gas taxes," said CTF Manitoba director Colin Craig. "Ottawa should table the same. We drafted a Gas Tax Accountability Act for the federal government to pass that would require 100 per cent of gas tax revenues to be spent on roads," he said.

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