Alberta’s new finance minister should immediately suspend the provincial fuel tax and provide relief to drivers facing high costs at the pump, according to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.The taxpayer advocacy group is calling on Finance Minister Jason Nixon to stop collecting Alberta’s fuel tax now instead of waiting until July.“Nixon has a chance to start things off right with taxpayers and saving them about $15 every time they fill up at the gas pump would be a great first step,” said Kris Sims, the CTF’s Alberta director.“Albertans are paying high fuel costs while fighting to afford everything else and it would be wrong to make them wait another month for tax relief at the pumps.”Alberta’s provincial fuel tax adds 13 cents per litre to the cost of gasoline and diesel.According to the CTF, suspending the tax would save drivers about $10 every time they fill a minivan and roughly $15 when filling a pickup truck. Long-haul truck drivers could save approximately $125 per fill-up.Under Alberta’s fuel tax relief program, the provincial fuel tax is adjusted based on oil prices. When the average price of oil exceeds US$90 per barrel, the entire 13-cent-per-litre tax is suspended. If oil prices fall below US$80 per barrel, the full tax remains in place.Oil prices are currently at or above the threshold required to trigger a full suspension, but the Alberta government has indicated taxpayers will not see relief until July.“The Alberta government is using the high cost of a barrel of oil as a way to fill in its reckless $9.4 billion in overspending that it delivered in February’s budget, but that was the government’s fault and it’s wrong to punish drivers for the government’s mismanagement,” said Sims.“Nixon should do the right thing and cut the Alberta fuel tax right now.”
