Gage Haubrich is the Prairie Director and Kris Sims is the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Gas prices are surging, and folks in Saskatchewan and Alberta need relief.Thankfully, one politician has taken action to make life more affordable for drivers and families: Prime Minister Mark Carney.Carney is cutting the 10-cent per litre federal gas tax until Labour Day. This temporary cut will save Canadian drivers about $7 every time they fill up a minivan and about $10 when they fill up a pickup truck.But Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who regularly tout their affordability chops, are sitting on their hands and failing to provide relief to taxpayers.The lack of action can’t be for a lack of ideas, because all the premiers have to do is follow Carney’s lead and cut their own gas taxes.In fact, there’s an easy way to improve on Carney’s plan. The prime minister’s tax cut is temporary, so Moe and Smith can show that they understand that the cost of living isn’t a temporary concern for residents by making their tax cuts permanent.The Saskatchewan government currently charges a 15-cent per litre gasoline and diesel tax that costs drivers about $11 when they fill up a minivan and about $15 when they fill up a pickup truck. A two-vehicle family filling up once every two weeks is paying about $660 per year in the provincial gas tax.The Alberta government charges a 13-cent per litre tax on gasoline and diesel. That tax costs Alberta drivers about $9 every time they fill a minivan and about $13 when they fill up a pickup truck..Both premiers so far have refused to cut their own gas taxes and save drivers money.Alberta’s refusal to cut the gas tax now is even more bizarre because the province already has a mechanism in place to do so when oil and gas prices increase to unaffordable levels.Alberta’s fuel tax relief program adjusts the provincial fuel tax based on the price of oil. Once oil prices are more than $90 USD per barrel, the entire 13-cent per litre fuel tax is suspended. However, if oil prices are less than $80 USD, the entire fuel tax remains in place.Oil prices are currently hovering around $90 USD, but due to technicalities, the Alberta government is saying taxpayers have to wait until July 1 for tax relief at the pumps.And voices from across the political spectrum are calling for this commonsense tax cut. Of course, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is telling the Western provinces to make life more affordable, but so are the opposition parties in both provinces.“They’re not willing to act, even though gas prices have gone up 40 cents a litre in a month,” said Alberta Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi.“Suspending the tax would show some decency and compassion for the insurmountable affordability struggle that people in this province are facing,” said Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck..Strange bedfellows indeed, but it also makes sense because gas tax cuts are just commonsense. They are commonsense because gas tax cuts help people afford the basics. People need to drive to work and pick up their kids from school.Saving $15 on a fill-up really matters to working people who live paycheque to paycheque. A family could buy a jug of milk and a roast chicken with the saved money.Something the politicians in Saskatchewan and Alberta should both remember: Food has to be delivered to the grocery store in the trailers of big rig trucks that run on diesel. If Alberta dropped its fuel tax to zero, truckers would save more than $125 every time they fill up their tanks.A gas tax cut makes all of those things more affordable.It’s kind of weird that this needs to be explained in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and that drivers are only getting gas tax relief from Ottawa. A gas tax cut, unlike many other government attempts at making life more affordable, is bureaucracy-free. Not a single paper pusher in Regina or Edmonton needs to be paid to administer a fuel tax cut. The government simply removes the tax at the pump, and drivers start saving.It’s a rare day when Ottawa does something right, but when it does, Saskatchewan and Alberta need to watch and follow suit. That means a cut to the provincial gas tax.Gage Haubrich is the Prairie Director and Kris Sims is the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
