“High gas taxes make high pump prices more painful,” Jay Goldberg, Ontario Director of the CTF, said. “Politicians could immediately make life more affordable by reducing their big tax bill at the pumps.”

The CTF’s Gas Tax Honesty Report shows that taxes make up 32 per cent of the pump price in Ontario, which works out to about 52 cents per litre. The average tax on a 64-litre fill-up in the province is $33.28.

Ontarians have the fourth lowest gas tax burden in Canada thanks to Premier Doug Ford’s temporary 6.4 cent per litre of gasoline tax cut, which has been in place since July of 2022.

“The Ford government’s gas tax cut has saved the typical Ontario family more than $450 since it was put in place just over a year ago,” Goldberg said. “Ford is lowering costs at the pumps, but unfortunately Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is doing the opposite by forcing two federal carbon taxes on Ontarians.”

The federal carbon tax currently costs 14 cents per litre of gasoline. The federal government imposed a second carbon tax through fuel regulations that took effect on July 1. By 2030, when the fuel regulations are fully implemented, the two carbon taxes will increase the price of gasoline by about 55 cents per litre and cost the average Ontario family more than $2,300 annually.

“It’s extremely tone deaf for the federal government to keep hiking carbon taxes when Canadians can barely afford to fuel up their cars now,” Goldberg said. “Canadians need relief and that means federal politicians must scrap their carbon taxes that don’t help the environment.”

The federal government and Ontario calculate sales taxes after the per-litre taxes are added. This tax-on-tax costs drivers in the province an extra 4.3 cents per litre of gasoline.

You can find the CTF’s 2023 Gas Tax Honesty Report here.