If you drive you probably paid over $600 in taxes on gasoline last year.
That’s according to the the Canadian Taxpayers Federation 2016 Gas Tax Honesty Report released Thursday.
On average, Canadians pay some 37 cents tax for every litre of gas at the pump and $654 in gas taxes each year. But it could be more if you live in major cities like Montreal or Vancouver.
The report says Montreal pays the most tax per litre on gasoline, though gas in Vancouver is still the most expensive in the country.
READ MORE: Inside Vancouver gas prices
The report states on average, drivers in Vancouver pay $1.15 per litre, with $0.48 of that going to taxes. Montrealers, on the other hand, pay around $1.07 per litre, but nearly half of that($0.50) is in tax.
Alberta continues to have the lowest prices (at an average of $0.87) and the lowest taxes ($0.27), but the report warns these numbers will increase next year when the carbon tax will be introduced.
All these taxes mean around $20 billion are given to our respective governments. The report says $13 billion of those taxes stay in province, while the rest goes to Ottawa.
To help lower the financial burden on Canadians, the CTF is recommending the federal government cut gas taxes by five cents a litre and cut diesel taxes by two cents a litre, as well as stop charging GST on top of applied federal and provincial gas taxes, a process known as tax-on-tax.
They also recommend that the federal government be “legally required to spend all revenue collected through gasoline and diesel taxes on roadway related infrastructure and maintenance.”
With files from Global BC’s Jill Slattery.
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