When is a gasoline tax not a carbon tax? Or vice-versa? And when does a UCP premier support it and an NDP leadership contender doesn’t?That’s the question Albertans are asking themselves after Premier Danielle Smith confirmed the end of the UCP government’s gasoline tax holiday, effective January 1 and the NDP vehemently opposed it.Except this time, it will be no holiday when pump prices rise about 10 cents a litre on New Years Day. That’s when the Alberta gasoline tax comes back into effect after a hiatus going back to the former government of Jason Kenney that was implemented in April of 2022..“Here’s the deal we had with Albertans,”Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.Speaking on a local talk radio program on Thursday, Smith defended her government’s decision to restore the tax — in increments — based on prevailing oil prices when they fall below USD$80. On Friday they were hovering at six-month lows, around $70.“Here’s the deal we had with Albertans,” Smith explained in an interview with 630CHED in Edmonton.“When we’re making a lot of money from resource revenues, we’re going to make sure that we’re reducing the cost on them from the fuel tax. So, the program we have in place is when oil and gas is over $90, there will be no fuel tax. When it’s under $80 — and we’re talking West Texas Intermediate — then the tax comes back.” “We have more people coming into the province. We need to build more schools, more hospitals, we need to make sure that we’re hiring enough doctors, nurses. And we can’t keep on cutting our long-term dependable revenue sources,” she continued.“So because oil is now below $80, we figured that this was the time to return to that program, but if it goes back up to $90, we’ll take it off again.”.The irony is, the Alberta NDP — which introduced its own carbon tax when it was in power — is now adamantly opposed.Kathleen Ganley, the party’s energy and climate critic, held a news conference in Calgary on Thursday to all but accuse the premier of being the Grinch who stole Christmas.“As long as most Albertans are unable to cover their bills, the government should be focused on relieving the pressure on those Albertans, especially with the massively increased revenues they see coming in from resource revenue,” Ganley said.She went as far as to take to Twitter (“X”) to blast the UCP for taking the dollar limits off Christmas presents for cabinet ministers.“Their present to you? Higher prices at the pumps,” she Tweeted..The irony is that in November of 2015 the NDP government actually hiked the fuel tax on locomotives by nearly 30%, to 5.5 cents per litre. Along with the carbon tax, it was one of the largest tax hikes in Alberta’s history.Notwithstanding the UCP’s planned gas tax hike, which will ultimately add about $10 to the cost of filling up an average pickup truck or SUV — an amount Canadian Taxpayers Federation critic Kris Sims says amounts to a roast chicken and a litre of milk for the average family.“Sounds like the Premier needs to spend less time with Edmonton bureaucrats and at pointless global COP meetings and remember she promised low taxes for ordinary Albertans,” she Tweeted.“Smith’s planned tax hike no better than Lib’s carbon tax.”
When is a gasoline tax not a carbon tax? Or vice-versa? And when does a UCP premier support it and an NDP leadership contender doesn’t?That’s the question Albertans are asking themselves after Premier Danielle Smith confirmed the end of the UCP government’s gasoline tax holiday, effective January 1 and the NDP vehemently opposed it.Except this time, it will be no holiday when pump prices rise about 10 cents a litre on New Years Day. That’s when the Alberta gasoline tax comes back into effect after a hiatus going back to the former government of Jason Kenney that was implemented in April of 2022..“Here’s the deal we had with Albertans,”Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.Speaking on a local talk radio program on Thursday, Smith defended her government’s decision to restore the tax — in increments — based on prevailing oil prices when they fall below USD$80. On Friday they were hovering at six-month lows, around $70.“Here’s the deal we had with Albertans,” Smith explained in an interview with 630CHED in Edmonton.“When we’re making a lot of money from resource revenues, we’re going to make sure that we’re reducing the cost on them from the fuel tax. So, the program we have in place is when oil and gas is over $90, there will be no fuel tax. When it’s under $80 — and we’re talking West Texas Intermediate — then the tax comes back.” “We have more people coming into the province. We need to build more schools, more hospitals, we need to make sure that we’re hiring enough doctors, nurses. And we can’t keep on cutting our long-term dependable revenue sources,” she continued.“So because oil is now below $80, we figured that this was the time to return to that program, but if it goes back up to $90, we’ll take it off again.”.The irony is, the Alberta NDP — which introduced its own carbon tax when it was in power — is now adamantly opposed.Kathleen Ganley, the party’s energy and climate critic, held a news conference in Calgary on Thursday to all but accuse the premier of being the Grinch who stole Christmas.“As long as most Albertans are unable to cover their bills, the government should be focused on relieving the pressure on those Albertans, especially with the massively increased revenues they see coming in from resource revenue,” Ganley said.She went as far as to take to Twitter (“X”) to blast the UCP for taking the dollar limits off Christmas presents for cabinet ministers.“Their present to you? Higher prices at the pumps,” she Tweeted..The irony is that in November of 2015 the NDP government actually hiked the fuel tax on locomotives by nearly 30%, to 5.5 cents per litre. Along with the carbon tax, it was one of the largest tax hikes in Alberta’s history.Notwithstanding the UCP’s planned gas tax hike, which will ultimately add about $10 to the cost of filling up an average pickup truck or SUV — an amount Canadian Taxpayers Federation critic Kris Sims says amounts to a roast chicken and a litre of milk for the average family.“Sounds like the Premier needs to spend less time with Edmonton bureaucrats and at pointless global COP meetings and remember she promised low taxes for ordinary Albertans,” she Tweeted.“Smith’s planned tax hike no better than Lib’s carbon tax.”
