Olivia Woods
After oil prices soared and inflation hit, the province’s government removed the 13-cent-per-litre tax on April 1. Alberta will partially reintroduce its fuel tax on Oct. 1, Finance Minister Jason Nixon told CBC News.
The provincial government will earn 4.5 cents per litre on gasoline and diesel for the last three months of the year.
“It will result in 8.5 cents being saved on every litre of gas and diesel for Albertans going forward, and we’ll continue to build on the fuel tax program,” said Nixon said.
It is estimated that consumers may have saved about $650 million in the first six months.
The government promised quarterly policy reviews, during which it would consider the oil price in deciding to continue the relief program.
Nixon estimated that the 4.5 cent tax would bring in $30 million per month to provincial coffers.
He has announced that legislation is being drafted to make the provincial gas tax relief program permanent. He said that the future premier will decide whether or not such a law would be introduced into the legislative chamber.
Nixon stated that the government considered the daily closing price of West Texas Intermediate, a benchmark oil price, between August 15 and September 15 to determine the amount of relief coming to the pumps this quarter.
Nixon said that the tax relief program has been cited by Statistics Canada as helping to keep inflation in Alberta under control.
“That really confirmed for us the need to continue forward,” he said.
Kathleen Ganley, the NDP’s energy critic, has argued that now is the worst time to bring back the provincial gas tax.
She claims that consumers are paying more for food, shelter, and utilities despite lower gas prices because of high inflation rates.
“At every turn, this government makes decisions without families in mind, including today as we move to increase prices at the pump,” she said Thursday.
However, Alberta will still have the lowest provincial fuel tax in Canada, even with the reintroduction of the program.
Original source material for this article taken from here
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