Kris Sims is the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.Albertans need their fuel tax cut, and they need it now.Drivers have been getting burned at the gas pumps since oil leapt up to about $100 USD per barrel at the beginning of March.The Alberta government has been whistling past the gas stations since then, raking in resource revenues while promising to eventually cut the fuel tax based on rules.Fuel tax relief is more than a promise; it’s a much-ballyhooed government regulation, and this tax cut is required to happen on July 1.Instead, Albertans are receiving a $100 rebate cheque, a government cheque being cut instead of tax relief at the pumps.Getting some of our own money back is always fine.But the Alberta government needs to keep its promise. It promised to lower gas taxes when oil prices soared. That promise is in legislation. It can’t break that promise and paper over it with rebates.The only people who think cute rebate games can justify a broken promise are finance department officials and junior staffers..Rebates of our own money are like getting a package of jerky when we were counting on a whole roast beef supper.Even the feds finally figured this out.Former prime minister Justin Trudeau tried to woo Canadians with their own money, saying his carbon tax was making them richer thanks to rebates.Canadians didn’t buy that, and, turns out, neither did his replacement, Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney.Carney got rid of the consumer carbon tax. Poof. Gone. No rebate dilly-dallying.The industrial carbon tax is still there and growing, but the consumer carbon tax is gone.The price at the gas station dropped by about 18 cents per litre of gasoline across Canada once that carbon tax was axed.That saved people about $13 every time they filled up a minivan and about $20 every time they filled up a pickup truck..But wait, there’s another piece of evidence showing even Ottawa learned its lesson that rebates aren’t a substitute for tax cuts.Carney also suspended the federal fuel tax in April, saving drivers 10 cents per litre of gasoline and four cents per litre of diesel. No doubt finance department officials pushed Carney to compromise with rebates. He didn’t take the bait and delivered what Canadians demanded: a gas tax cut.Those savings will continue until at least Labour Day.Meanwhile, back in Alberta, drivers are still paying the full freight of the provincial fuel tax months after Ottawa cut gas taxes. Now they are getting a rebate rather than tax relief. If there’s any fire under that smoke, the Alberta government needs to douse it quickly.Here’s how the gas tax promise works.The provincial fuel tax in Alberta adds 13 cents per litre of gasoline and diesel.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, the entire 13 cent per litre fuel tax is to be suspended. However, if oil prices are less than $80 USD, the entire fuel tax remains in place..The price for a barrel of oil surpassed $90 USD at the beginning of March, spiking to $112 USD per barrel in April, and the price has remained over $80 USD since.When the provincial fuel tax is fully suspended, drivers would save about $10 when they fill up a minivan and about $15 when they fill up a pickup truck.Big rig truck drivers would save more than $100 when they fill their tanks with diesel.If the Alberta government suspended the provincial fuel tax starting on Monday, an Alberta family with two vehicles filling up once a week would save more than $350 by the end of September.Businesses and municipalities would save money because the cost of diesel would be cheaper.Folks who don’t drive would still get savings because big rig and delivery trucks use diesel, and transit uses a mix of gasoline, diesel, and other fuels.Cutting the provincial fuel tax not only fulfills a promise and follows the current fuel tax relief rules in Alberta, it also saves everyone money.In February, the UCP government delivered a bad budget, announcing it was borrowing another $9.4 billion, hiking provincial property taxes, giving more money to bizarre art projects, and running the provincial debt up past $100 billion for the first time in Alberta’s history.Since the beginning of March, fortunes have changed with the price of oil, and resource money has been pouring into government coffers.This government cannot count on wars in the Middle East to balance its books, and it shouldn’t screw drivers out of promised fuel tax relief just because the finance department can’t stop wasting money.Getting some of our own money back is always welcome, but that’s not what’s been promised for months.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith needs to keep up the government’s end of the bargain and cut the provincial fuel tax down to zero.Kris Sims is the Alberta Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
