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LETTERS: Higher gas tax not virtuous

Editor: While visiting south of the border last week, I was struck by the sight of a sign.
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Editor:

While visiting south of the border last week, I was struck by the sight of a sign at a gas station near Birch Bay Plaza that advertises the price of gasoline.

Nothing unusual there, except that for the benefit of Canadian consumers they not only show the price per gallon but the price per litre in Canadian dollars.

The indicated cash price for regular octane is 90 cents a litre!

Those of us in fortunate enough to live in border communities have taken advantage of the absurd gas price differences in the U.S. and Canada for decades.

This difference has precious little to do with the cost of refinement, retail markup or the price of crude oil. The difference is simply a result of the extent to which gasoline is taxed in Canada relative to the U.S.

Taxation on gasoline in Canada comes in many forms – provincial tax, federal tax, GVRD tax, GST tax, and now the ever-escalating carbon tax. No matter what they call it, a tax is a tax is a tax.

However, now we’re somehow expected to believe that this newest carbon tax is going to save the planet by reducing global warming. The revenues from this tax grab don’t go towards any particular action in that regard. It’s simply punishes commuters financially while being spun by the political left as being virtuous.

So if punitive taxation is the goal, what is it about this new carbon tax that is so much more beneficial to the global green initiative than the other gas taxes?

After decades of having paid excessive taxes on gas, should we not already be seeing the results of this weather-changing initiative? After all, four or five decades is a substantial period of time – especially when one considers the environmentalists’ assertion that 140 years is forever.

Glen Gerow, White Rock