CALGARY — The Canadian Taxpayer's Federation (CTF) has called on the Alberta government and Premier Smith to drop the provincial gas tax in light of the spike in the price of a barrel of oil.CTF Alberta Director Kris Sims held a press conference in Calgary Wednesday morning to highlight how much Canadians and Albertans are paying in tax every time they visit the pump.The CTF does their annual 'Gas Tax Honesty Report' to "highlight the fact that drivers pay a lot of taxes at the pump.""Albertans are fighting to afford these high prices at the pump, and the provincial and federal governments both need to drop their fuel taxes now," said Sims..Sims added that Albertans pay roughly "27 cents per litre" in tax every time they fill up their car.She called on Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to remove the provincial gas tax in light of the rising cost of a barrel of oil due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.Sims said that the CTF is "calling on the provincial government, led by Danielle Smith, to get rid of that 13 cents per litre fuel tax right away.""We've seen the price of a barrel of oil skyrocket since the beginning of March, and many Albertans were counting on that fuel tax relief.".Sims said that while the provincial government has implemented a $100 gas rebate that Albertans can receive if they fill out a form on a government website, the rebate is still difficult to access for those who don't have as ready access to computers, citing seniors as an example."We have a $100 rebate per person that people need to sign up for on a government portal to get, and we're hearing from a lot of our supporters, especially seniors who aren't glued to their computers all the time."She also said that the CTF would be asking the federal government "to do the right thing and not hike his ten-cent-per-litre fuel excise tax back up."Sims added that Prime Minister Mark Carney had "done the right thing" when he suspended the federal fuel excise tax but said that more still needed to be done to make sure fuel prices don't rise.The price of oil closed at $75 a barrel of WTI.
