Gasoline Prices

A lot has been written about the high cost of gasoline at the pumps in Canada and I want to add my two cents worth to the mix.
About 30% of the price here (compared to about 10% in the US) is made up of taxes and it is fair to charge taxes in order to cover the cost of roads and other infrastructure related to driving vehicles. However, part of the tax is not a fixed tax but rather an percentage of the price. I strongly believe that this type of tax is not in the best interests of the public and is very unfair since the government is basically experiencing a windfall every time gasoline prices rise. This tax should be capped so that when gasoline prices exceed a base amount, for example - .75/litre including the fixed taxes, the government does not make things worse by gouging us for excess taxes. The only way we will get this to change is to write our MPPs and keep pushing for a reasonable solution.
The other suggestion I would like to make is that since Canada is a net exporter of gasoline and we are looking for ways to create jobs in Canada and improve our economy the price of gas in Canada should not be based on world prices for gas but rather be a "Canadian" price set lower than the US prices in order to help attract business and jobs here. I know we will be told that because of NAFTA or some other international agreements we are not allowed to do this but it is time to make changes in those agreements if they, in fact, hinder us from taking advantage of our own resources to improve our economy. Other gas exporting countries like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela have very low domestic gasoline prices of well under $1 per US gallon compared to over $4/US gallon in Ontario.
The oil companies have been making record profits and the government has been raking in millions of surplus dollars in taxes at our expense. Just think how many more jobs could be created in Canada with lower gas prices.

by Richard Rosenthal

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