Ever feel like placing a 9-1-1 call to report a robbery whenever you pull up to the pumps Gasoline prices have now jumped to a weekly average price of over 90 cents per litre, and have regularly surpassed $1 per litre in many parts of the country.

The pump price motorists pay can be broken down into four components: crude oil costs, refining costs, retailer's profit margin and gas taxes. Depending on the province gas taxes represent between 30 and 43 per cent of the pump price. On average, taxes account for about 38% of the pump price.

Although it may not feel like it, Alberta has one of the lowest provincial gas tax rates at $0.09/litre. Vancouver's provincial/municipal gas tax is a whopping $0.205/litre.

The original argument for imposing higher gasoline taxes in the 1970s was to curb consumption. But consumption has chugged along and so has governments' tax take. Between 1985 and 2003, gasoline sales steadily increased at an average rate of just over one per cent per year. According to Statistics Canada, retail gasoline sales in 1985 were just over 32-billion litres and just over 40-billion litres in 2004.

In fiscal 2004-2005, the federal government collected $4.25-billion in combined federal gasoline taxes, an 18 per cent increase over what was collected ten years earlier. One explanation for the increase is the steady increase in gasoline tax rates. The federal gasoline tax rate increased 567 per cent between 1985 and 1995 - from 1.5 cents per litre to 10 cents per litre.

Another contributor to growing federal gasoline tax revenue is the GST and HST. The GST (and HST) is charged on the full pump price, gasoline taxes included. It is a tax paid on other taxes. As pump prices climb, Ottawa rakes in more GST revenues. Between 1996-1997 and 2004-2005, GST revenues from gasoline sales increased from $909-million to $1.2-billion - a 31 per cent increase! At current price levels, the federal treasury will likely pump another $175-million over the next year - bringing total GST revenue from gas to over $1.35-billion.

As a deficit reduction measure in 1995, Ottawa increased the federal gasoline tax from 8.5 to 10 cents per litre. The deficit was vanquished seven years ago, but the tax remains and the federal government's gouging at the pumps continues even with multi-year, multi-billion dollar federal surpluses.

With crude prices and consumption predicted to climb, it is time the federal government gave motorists a break at the pump.

- Tanis Fiss, Acting Alberta Director, Canadian Taxpayers Federation