Fuel prices are entering the stratosphere, and though many factors pitch this climb at the pumps, government (like usual) is mostly to blame.
1. OPEC
A couple of days ago, OPEC announced it’s going to continue choking the supply of crude.* The world begs for more oil, but Saudi and other oligarchs in the cartel don’t really care. If we consider an axiom of economics—the less we have of something we want, the more it’s worth—pumping less oil means what's accessible and marketed is more valuable. Thus, the price of gasoline and diesel increases.
There’s not much we can do about that. OPEC wields incredible power and influence, and they do what they want. If they sufficiently suffocate the supply of their oil, the world price will reflect that and rise.
2. Government
But our governments are another quagmire entirely. President Biden begs OPEC to pump oil as their gas prices skyrocket in America,** but I don’t feel sorry for him (I feel sorry for the people who are suffering under an illegitimate President) because he killed Keystone XL.
What about Canada? Why are our gas prices so high right now?
Taxes.
Do you know how much 87 gasoline would cost right now in Alberta absent of government tax?
About $1-1.02/litre.
$1/litre even as the price of crude summits seven-year highs.
It’s one thing for the government to tax its citizens; it’s another thing entirely to crush us under the weight of impossibly heavy burdens we cannot long bear.
There are five different taxes applied to fuel prices here in Alberta.*`
$1-1.02/litre for crude and distribution/retail
Federal Government flat tax (because why not?) of 10 cents/litre
Federal Carbon tax of 8.8 cents/litre
Alberta Provincial Tax of 13 cents/litre
GST of 5% on the dollar
Tax-on-tax (a tax calculated after including all other taxes on the price) of 2%
Taking this into account, the “price” of fuel equates to about $1.41/litre.
3. Poverty
But it’s just the beginning. Right now, the Federal Carbon Tax is $40/tonne or about 9 cents/litre. Next year, Trudeau is set to raise the tax to $50/tonne, and by 2030 (that ominous and famous date), it will be $170/tonne, which is 40 cents/litre.
We might hear some environmentalists appeal that these taxes are needed in the name of saving the environment, but that’s nonsense. But even the most elementary economist knows that fuel is an inelastic good. All that means is that even when the price of fuel changes a lot, our consumption doesn’t really change at all.
So have our greenhouse gasses decreased since the Liberals imposed this tax on us? Not at all, on the contrary—they’ve increased!*``
All these taxes do is harm us. We certainly don’t reap appropriate benefits, and we don’t consume any less oil than before, so what does this tax do if not make us poorer in every way? We're punished at the pumps for enjoying a good that has unequivocally increased the standard of living in the world.
That is why I think it’s plain that we have to leave this country and capture our independence in this province. For if we don’t, worn down in part by the weight of unsustainably high taxes like this, we shall forfeit our way of life and be forced to bow to powerful governments subjecting us to a lamentable catalogue of socialist suffering.
**https://nypost.com/2021/08/12/bidens-energy-idiocy-kneecap-us-oil-but-beg-opec-to-pump-more/
*`http://www.taxpayer.com/media/CTF%20-%20GTHD%202021%20Report%20-V5%20-%20May%2018,%202021.pdf
*``https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-greenhouse-gas-emissions-ticked-up-1.5984202