Manitoba extends gas tax break by three months

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This article was published 02/04/2024 (528 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobans will continue to pay less at the pumps throughout this summer, with the provincial government extending its temporary fuel tax freeze until the end of September.

The 14-cent-a-litre fuel tax will be suspended for an additional three months. It began Jan. 1 and was expected to end June 30.

A provincial spokesperson confirmed the extension Tuesday morning, before the NDP government announced its first budget.

Ryan Lopena, who was filling his tank for $1.43 per litre at the Esso gas station on the corner of McPhillips Street and Notre Dame Avenue before making the five-hour drive to Swan River for work, was not impressed with the news.

“It’s expensive for me anyway, it makes no difference,” Lopena, who lives in Winnipeg and works as a health-care aide, said. “I’d usually be OK with $1.20 (per litre)… but it’s just skyrocketed. I feel powerless over the prices.”

The announcement comes on the heels of the federal government’s carbon tax increases that came into effect Monday, costing motorists an additional 3.3 cents per litre. The Manitoba government said last week it intends to ask Ottawa to remove carbon tax from the province.

The fuel tax generates an estimated $340 million a year for the province.

NDP Finance Minister Adrien Sala will present Premier Wab Kinew’s spending and taxation priorities for the fiscal year Tuesday afternoon.

The budget will include funding to revive the emergency department and Mature Women’s Centre at Victoria General Hospital, both of which were shuttered by the Tories in 2017. The two capital projects at Victoria hospital will take years to complete, but the budget includes money to get them started, a government spokesperson said Monday, without offering any details.

Promises to reopen both were among a litany of health-care pledges the NDP made during last summer’s provincial election campaign.

The Canadian Press reported that the NDP is looking at changes to income and property taxes to make them more progressive; those with higher incomes and more expensive homes would pay more. The property tax changes would move from a combination of the new 50 per cent rebate and a long-standing $350 tax credit to a flat credit, the news agency reported, citing a government source.

Some homeowners would pay less, some would pay more. Overall, the province would take in more money, The Canadian Press reported.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca