Back in the 1970s, skyrocketing oil prices sparked anti-OPEC sentiment throughout Europe and North America. In contrast, the latest round of higher pump prices touched off trucker protests in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Great Britain against their respective governments. So far, only France has promised to cut taxes.

In Canada, Pierre Trudeau initiated a National Energy Program in the 1970s, a rather bizarre attempt to depress oil prices for domestic consumers. The plan succeeded temporarily, but at the price of undercutting fair market value for western Canadian resources. Had the commodity been Ontario-made cars that suddenly skyrocketed in price, the federal government never would have attempted such an anti-free market policy.

This time Ottawa wisely avoided such "action." Instead, some governments offer tax rebates, as in Alberta which is giving $690 million back to taxpayers to help with higher fill-up and home heating costs; B.C.'s politicians, predictably, say they don't have the room. (No kidding run up a provincial debt for nine years and potential tax cuts are siphoned off by higher debt charges.)

But why the difference between now and the 1970s in terms of political reaction Tax levels. The latest fuel price spike is driven by higher crude prices, but governments have been the main drivers of higher prices since the 1970s.

Back in 1973, British Columbians paid 0.4 cents a litre in federal tax, and 3.3 cents in provincial tax or 3.7 cents a litre in total. The federal tax jumped to 1.5 cents a litre by 1980 along with a 9 percent federal sales tax. Provincially, the tax was 3.7 cents. Total tax in 1980 5.2 cents plus 9 percent sales tax. If you lived in greater Vancouver in 1980, you also chipped in another two-thirds of a cent for the first time in an additional local levy collected for B.C. Transit.

Now jump ahead to the year 2000. The federal excise tax is 10 cents a litre. The provincial tax is 11 cents a litre. The GST of 7 percent is applied on the total pump price including the tax. Motorists in greater Vancouver pay an additional four cents a litre, while those in greater Victoria pay an additional 2.5 cents. Total taxes in British Columbia this year Between 21 cents and 25 cents a litre depending on where you live, plus GST, or about 26 to 32 cents a litre in total. Gas taxes now account for between 32 percent and 40 percent of the cost of a fill-up. This is down slightly from a year ago - the rising crude price has made the tax component look smaller on a percentage basis - but taxes are seven to nine times higher than they were in 1973.

And how are governments doing on the revenue side Flush with cash. Federal and provincial governments expect to take in about $12 billion this year in fuel taxes, $13 billion next year and that's just from consumers. From the corporate income tax side, Ottawa and the provinces will take in $1.4 billion this year up from $320 million last year. Next year, they expect to haul off $8 billion. As Ottawa will get a chunk of that, and as GST fuel tax revenue increases along with the pump price, federal Finance Minister Paul Martin can well afford to reverse the extra cent and a half he added in 1995 as a deficit-fighting measure. It would need to be combined with some provincial tax relief for anyone to notice, but it would be a start, plus it would be a nice apology for Pierre Trudeau's 1970s approach.