As Canadians, we have become conditioned to paying higher prices than our American neighbours for pretty much everything. Milk, cheese, clothes, electronics, books, airfares, sporting goods, cars, liquor: we know we’re being gouged, but we don’t know what to do about it. “Tax me, I’m Canadian,” is an all-too-familiar refrain.
Top of the overtaxed list, especially in the minds of beleaguered Lower Mainland drivers, is gasoline. But contrary to popular belief, it is not the gas itself that is cheaper in Washington State – it’s the gas taxes.
Greater Vancouver drivers pay 49 cents per litre in gas taxes. This is the highest gas tax rate in North America – save for Montreal’s 50 cents. But just a few miles away in Washington, drivers pay 15 cents per litre in tax.
That’s a 34 cent per litre price gap, just in taxes.
Amazingly, when you take out gas taxes, convert gallons into litres, and American into Canadian currency, the cost of a litre of gas in Surrey, B.C., and Blaine, WA, is virtually identical: in early May, it was 98.9 cents in Surrey, 95 cents in Blaine.
Yet, Canadians going south and filling up a 50 litre tank pay $18.95 less than they would here. All but a twoonie of those savings are due to gas taxes. In fact, if no gas taxes existed on either side of the border, that tank would cost $49.45 in Canada and $47.50 in the U.S. – and we would rarely hear of anyone crossing the border to fill up.
The lower the taxes, the cheaper the gas.
B.C. gas taxes are pushing more and more Canadians south. Last year, Canadians made 15.4 million trips into Whatcom County, the most since 1997. Those numbers don’t include crossings at Point Roberts or east of Abbotsford.
While TransLink raises concerns about diminishing fuel tax revenue, and environmentalists crow about the success of the carbon tax in reducing gas consumption, both fail to account for the 15-year high in trips south or through-the-roof fuel sales outside TransLink’s service area.
Don’t think it makes a difference? Even a smaller gas tax saving between Abbotsford (which is spared the 17 cent per litre TransLink tax) and the Lower Mainland sparked an 16.8 per cent jump in vehicle fuel sales between 2007 and 2010, while the population increased by only 5.3 per cent. Saving money motivates people.
Cheaper gas is essentially a gateway drug that gets Canadians hooked on other savings. Witness the long lineups, and parking lots full of B.C.-plated cars at Edaleen Dairy, Trader Joe’s, Target, Bellis Fair Mall, and other shopping hotspots in Washington State.
This Canadian invasion is why more than 4,700 Bellingham Costco customers have liked a Facebook page demanding U.S.-only shopping hours at their store. Bellingham Airport is spending $17 million to triple in size to better serve Canadian demand. As Bellingham Chamber of Commerce CEO Ken Oplinger points out, Abbotsford Airport isn’t the Lower Mainland’s number two airfield – Bellingham is.
Canadians are voting with our cars and wallets. We are stalling our own economic growth with sky high gas taxes – not only increasing the cost of every good and service moved in our province, but driving overtaxed Canadians south looking to save a few bucks.
The first step in this solution is simple: lower gas taxes. Start by killing the carbon tax and stopping the practice of charging GST on top of other taxes. That will save B.C. drivers nearly 9 cents per litre and be a good step toward evening the playing field.
Jordan Bateman, British Columbia Director
