Canadians paying unfair gas taxes, watchdog group says
Posted May 17, 2012 3:45 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
When you fill up your tank, we all know we’re taxed on the price per litre. What you may not know is that the total price is then taxed yet again.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is shedding light on how much you pay in levies when you fill up.
According to the CTF, by the end of this year, we will have forked over $21-billion in gasoline and diesel taxes to the federal and provincial governments.
The CTF said nearly $2-billion of that will be a tax that is added on to the price per litre after you’ve already been taxed.
CTF executive director Gregory Thomas said it’s time to end the tax on tax. The group said this unfair practice needs to end and the money Canadians will save can be used to stimulate the economy and create jobs.
“It be a huge boost to the economy, to employment, to retailers and to consumers because they could stretch their dollars way farther,” Thomas said.
Thomas said what’s worse is that the government isn’t even using that cash properly.
“It’s not being returned to drivers in the form of roads, in the form of a transportation system that can get them to where they need to go in a timely way,” he said.
The group adds that road conditions have actually gotten worse as government revenues have gone up.
