Gas prices: B.C. should ease taxes, says Surrey Board of Trade
Posted March 9, 2022 11:38 am.
Last Updated March 9, 2022 7:04 pm.
The cost of fuel has hit another record in B.C., with gas prices sitting at $2.11 per litre at some stations across Metro Vancouver.
The Surrey Board of Trade is now calling on the province to consider easing the painful prices.
The board says the spike in fees in addition to the ongoing pandemic and general rising cost of living are making things difficult for businesses.
“We know that there is so much bottom-line erosion happening for businesses right now during the pandemic, supply-chain issues.” said Board president Anita Huberman. “Businesses can only handle so much. Even if they said, ‘We are going to commit to a comprehensive review of all of the taxes in British Columbia that are facing businesses,’ that would be a step in the right direction at least.”
She says they would also like to see the province work with gas companies in an effort to protect consumers from ever-increasing costs. Huberman also doesn’t buy the excuse from government’s explanation that it is the whim of the markets.
“The rationale that they can’t do anything, because of global circumstances, I think is a false narrative.”
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Last week, Alberta announced it would be pausing its 13 cents per litre tax on gas and diesel.
Premier John Horgan previously defended the rising taxes, saying they go towards building roads, funding public transportation, and modernizing infrastructure.
On Thursday he said while taxation is “one part” of the increase, “an 18-cent a litre increase overnight has everything to do with international instability and of course, the events unfolding in Ukraine.”
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Huberman argues the province needs to focus on small and medium businesses.
“When gas prices increase so do the cost of goods, and then those costs are passed on to consumers. The province needs to re-evaluate all the taxes that are hitting businesses right now.”
However, she doesn’t believe the provincial government will do anything.
Another carbon tax is set to be imposed federally at the end of the year. It’s expected that will bring an additional 16 cents to the per-litre pump price of gasoline.
With files from Denise Wong
