The volatility of gas prices has once again drawn the ire of consumers and taxpayers and the all too predictable shift-the-blame shell game from our provincial and federal politicians.

Before we get too caught up in the sweltering heat of the political blame game, a cold shower of tax facts of reality is warranted. This is especially useful since the provincial Government has re-juvenated their provincial gas busters MPP task force/watchdog group.

Over 50% of the pump price at every gas station goes to pay taxes. That's right, taxes. For example, In July 1998, the average retail cost of a litre of regular gas in Canada was 53.0 cents. From this price, 24.4 cents covered the cost of delivering the fuel from the ground to your tank. This includes refining costs of 6.6 cents; the marketing and retail margin was 5.3 cents; and crude oil costs were 12.5 cents per litre. The rest, 28.6 cents per litre, went to the federal and provincial governments in the form of taxes.

Included in this tax take is 10 cents of federal excise tax (plus GST of course) and another 14.7 cents represents the Ontario provincial tax take. While these numbers seem small, the tax take is huge. At the federal level, Jean Chretien and friends rake in $5 billion per year in fuel taxes and only return 5 per cent - a paltry $250 million - for road construction to the provinces.

And Ontario fares no better. Mike Harris and crew took in $2.045 billion in provincial gas taxes alone in fiscal year 1998-1999. And we can add in another $915 million in licensing fees to bring the total to over $3 billion. But only $1.35 billion was spent by the provincial government for all transportation expenditures.… a mere 44% of what was collected. And interestingly enough, in 1994-95 (the last year of the NDP), the provincial government collected $2.8 billion on gas tax and licensing fees and dedicated over $2.3 billion to the expenditure side of the ledger, or 83% of what was collected.

Federal and provincial gas taxes do not even include all the indirect taxes the oil companies and service providers pay, such as business tax, property tax, corporate income tax, payroll taxes, GST Sales tax, etc.

A study of the evolution of gasoline prices in Canada by StatsCan economists Marc Prud'homme and Klaus Kostenbauer shows that the price of gas itself, once adjusted for inflation, fell by 26% between 1957 and 1995.

Compare July 1998's 53-cent pump price to 9.5 cents per litre in 1957. Once adjusted for inflation, the 1957 pump price is actually 56.6 cents per litre. In other words, the price of gas in constant dollars has remained steady and even dropped a bit.

In 1957, taxes averaged slightly less than 2.8 cents for every 9.5 cents Canadians paid on a litre of gas, or 29% of the price. In 1998, when a litre costs 53 cents, 28.4 cents - 54% of the total - went to Ottawa and the provinces. That's an 86% increase in gas taxes since 1957. Shocking!

In their purest form, gas taxes are a road user fee that should be spent on improving our highways network. As a user fee, gas taxes should not be used for general operating revenue. The policy implications are evident. Ottawa and the provinces should reduce gas taxes to levels commensurate with road development only.

Punishing gas taxes only compound the problem of having to replace your front axle after hitting that crater of a pothole the government neglected to fix.

So the next time you lament the miserable road conditions or the high price of gas, remember who is gouging you first and foremost, it isn't the oil companies, it's your good friends in Ottawa and your MPPs at Queen's Park.