Carney and Co are lowering gas/diesel taxes:
The move means that the cost of gas will drop by 10 cents on a litre of gasoline and four cents per litre of diesel starting on Monday and lasting until Labour Day. The fuel tax holiday, which Carney said would also see the four cent per litre excise tax removed on aviation fuel, is expected to cost an estimated $2.4 billion.
One of the aims is to improve the affordability hit we’re taking because of the US/Israel war with Iraq.
Does the tax holiday make sense to you? Could it be done better?
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It’s a regressive move. The poorer someone is, the less likely they are to own a car and be able to drive. So it isn’t helping people who need it.
Worse, there’s no guarantee consumers will get ten cents off at the pump, since the sellers could just raise prices.
And, it’s encouraging fossil fuel use as the climate crisis is getting worse.
A better solution is to help people who need it directly. Up the GST tax credit, or offer a one-time cheque to low income households. That directly helps people who need it. Folks who make more still feel the pain, so they have incentives to change their behaviour.
It’s regressive in some ways, and not in others. If you’re completely unemployed, you might not drive but generally speaking low wage workers have to do the most commuting, often living furthest from their job, in places with poor transit access if any. They often are forced to use the least efficient older vehicles as well. The biggest savings however will be in commercial transport which would have been passed on through rising costs for groceries and essential goods, which again will hurt those already struggling more than the wealthy. Sudden unpredictable price shocks are always absorbed by the poor the most.
I like this response. It’s common sense and looks at things from realistic angles instead of “Make gas free - yeah drive ma truck git r done!” or “The socialist enviro revolution must happen now and the people must be starved of gas and clamour for the government high speed rail to be built immediately in one year” - for the record, I would prefer people transition to EVs and for high speed rail to become commonplace (or just exist period) but at the moment those are longer-term goals.
Thanks! At the moment it seems like a short term problem that needs short term solutions.
Leave the price high. Discourage people burning that stuff
This relief doesn’t help people who are making better choices already.
It should be given to everyone equally, and then people can choose to make better choices to save even more.
This isn’t given to everyone equally. Its given to people who drive.
Instead invest those funds in public and active transit. Things everyone can choose to use, yet are not forced to.
Ontario just invested $30M in a private jet for Doug Ford.
A private jet for Doug Ford also does not help those unable to drive or unable to afford to drive.
Canada doesn’t make better choices. The carbon levy was supposed to trigger people to make good choices but we all ran out and bought V8 pickups and Fuck Trudeau flags instead.
WE didn’t, I made better choices.
something something NATIONALIZE ENERGY PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION etc etc
We did that once with PetroCanada.
yeah, and it was great until the “privatize it because that will (something something) free market (something) efficiency” etc.
Free transit and work from home orders would bring the price down.
This is just campaigning.
Free inner city transit for all and EV subsidies for the outliers. This would be a big kick in the ass to big gasoline.
Subsidizing gas makes no sense. Gas companies will just leave the price and pocket even more profits.
Open up the market to Chinese EVs assembled in Canada.
MAGNA is making Xpeng EVs in Austria for the EU market. Why did Carney not insist on this for Canada?
Why the fuck is a Canadian automaker making Chinese EVs for Europe when all we make here is trucks and muscle cars?
Methinks Mark Harper may have only one industry in mind.
The country is very car-dependent.
The removal of the tax provides immediate relief. That said they could achieve even better result with a price control with the same to avoid firms jacking up prices to compensate.
With that said this should be coupled with immediate subsidy and price reductions in public transit in metro areas. Along with removal of RTO mandates for pub employees. Among other practical steps. The fact there’s nothing abt that tell is abt their priorities.
Longer term there’s a lot more to be done, including appropriating those windfall O&G profits.
The removal of the tax provides immediate relief.
It doesn’t provide direct relief to people without cars.
Fuel prices have already increased more than the amount of the tax holiday, so other goods will continue to increase in price.
The other measures make sense.
It doesn’t provide direct relief to people without cars.
For sure. Hence mentioning car-dependency. I don’t drive but everywhere outside of metro areas is car-country and there’s no alternative.
Either way a shortage is impending and distributing based on price means the wealthier get more for often less than necessary purposes. Which is why I’d look for a different distribution mechanism, a need-based mechanism. E.g. rural transportation and farming should get more/cheap fuel, F150/RAM1500 commuters in the GTA should get less/more expensive fuel.
I don’t drive much anymore because of the cost of gasoline; however, giving the small tax break in diesel fuel some thought, I would sooner donate my 10-cent discount to the truckers who have to increase their transportation cost for the food they deliver. I would donate my share to the farmers who will also have to “up their prices” for the food they grow because of diesel costs. The price of Diesel fuel has not dropped much despite the widespread implications it has on consumers. Does the tax on Gas make sense to you? Na. “” Could it be done better? “” I would think. Diesel equipment did not get any tax relief, and we will feel that tenfold.
Ontario and Quebec, at least, already have tax exempt coloured fuel for farming. I think most provinces do.
Coloured fueling transportation is an option, but there are some second and third order effects that come to mind.
it’s a 5% tax. Almost anything has potential to be more effective.
Manitoba had a gas tax holiday and prices actually went down $0.10/liter.
