Province to ease Albertans back into fuel tax in October

The price of oil is dropping, and with it, your fuel tax savings when you fill up at the pump.

The gas tax is being reintroduced in Alberta, though not the full 13 cents per litre levy that was in place before April 1.

Instead, the government is slowly easing Albertans back into the fuel tax.

When the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) drops between US$85 to $89.99, the province will introduce a 4.5 cents per litre tax. Once WTI drops even lower between US$80 and $84.99, it will reintroduce a 9 cents per litre tax. And finally, the fully 13 cents per litre tax is reintroduced when WTI dips below US$79.99.

So, the government is within the threshold to reintroduce a 4.5 cent per litre tax starting October.

"They're doing what they said they'd do, and the fact is when the oil price comes down 20 per cent, introducing a 4.5 cent tax back into the game is itself still being offset by the fall in oil prices," Moshe Lander, Concordia University economist, told CTV News Edmonton.

"You want to pick your battles, and this is not maybe the battle to pick. There's greater issues out there right now than a 4.5 cent per litre tax."

Despite that, several people said they're not happy about the fuel tax creeping back.

"I think it's kind of a bad time to be honest," one woman said. "With inflation, everything overall, prices are going up, so it's kinda hard, especially since I'm in school right now, I feel a lot of students are struggling, so this increase is definitely negatively impacting me and other students."

Another person agrees the timing isn't great.

"I think it'll just take more money out of my pocket that I can't use elsewhere," he said.

"If they keep it down, that'd be fine. I'd like to see it go down further," a driver said.

Marked gasoline and marked diesel will also be affected.

In a statement to CTV News, the province said it reviews fuel tax savings on a quarterly basis.