Taxpayers federation calls for extension to gas tax holiday

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This article was published 29/08/2024 (374 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An extension to the provincial gas tax holiday remains in limbo as the sun sets on the Sept. 30 expiration date.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation took the unusual step of applauding the NDP government and calling on the premier to extend the 14-cent-per-litre tax cut.

“Manitoba has the lowest gas taxes in Canada, and taxpayers want it to stay that way,” CTF prairie director Gage Haubrich said at a news conference.

In its latest Gas Tax Report, the CTF says Manitoba had the lowest gas taxes in the country in July. According to its numbers, drivers in Manitoba paid 34 cents per litre in taxes when they filled up, totalling an average of $22 in tax on a 64-litre tank.

Drivers in Saskatchewan paid $32 for the same amount and Ontario motorists shelled out nearly $36, according to the CTF.

The government temporarily suspended the fuel tax on Jan. 1 until July 1, then extended it to remain in place until Sept. 30.

On April 1, the price of gasoline at the pump jumped approximately 17 cents per litre as a result of an increase in the federal carbon tax.

Haubrich said an extension would continue to provide relief to residents grappling with the cost of living and called for the province to scrap its subsidy for electric vehicle purchases to afford the cut’s extension.

“At some point, the government’s gonna have to look at the numbers and find places to cut,” he said. “The premiers talk so much about affordability, it should also be in the cards to find a way to keep affording the gas tax cut to help Manitoba drivers save.”

According to a Leger poll commissioned by the CTF in August, 71 per cent of polled Manitobans support the continuation of the fuel tax suspension.

Premier Wab Kinew was noncommittal Thursday on whether the deadline would again be extended, citing other affordability issues residents are facing.

“We’re looking carefully at what everyone’s dealing with right now, with the… cost of living still being too high,” he said at an unrelated news conference.

The NDP government credited the gas tax holiday for the province reporting the lowest inflation rate in Canada, at 1.3 per cent, in July.

The new executive director of the Manitoba Eco-Network called the gas tax suspension short-sighted and called on the province to implement other cost-saving measures that won’t favour drivers and will address climate change.

“(The province) could lower the provincial sales tax, but instead they’ve chosen to remove the tax on gasoline, which will have negative impacts,” said James Beddome. “It’s misdirected.”

Beddome said more active-transportation routes and better subsidies for electric vehicle purchases would decrease the public’s reliance on cars and address climate change.

“There are other ways of delivering affordability that are actually more in line with reducing emissions,” he said.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca