Everything is getting more expensive, and family budgets can’t take any more punishment.

A $300 grocery run in 2020 costs about $380 today. That means if you get groceries once a week for your family, you’re paying about $4,140 more for food this year.

The price of everything in Saskatchewan increased by about 17 per cent over the last five years. Food specifically is costing Saskatchewanians about 27 per cent more. Wages only increased by about nine per cent over the same time. That means people are working just as hard, but they’re falling further behind.

Saskatchewanians need relief, and Premier Scott Moe can make life more affordable immediately by cutting his fuel tax.

The Saskatchewan Trucking Association called on the provincial government to stop driving up food costs by charging fuel taxes on the fuel used for truck refrigeration units. The STA highlights that just one refrigeration unit costs $24,000 a year in fuel taxes.

“These units transport food and critical medications across the province and the additional costs to fuel them are being passed on to consumers every time they visit the grocery store,” the STA said.

This is a clear example of how taxes make life less affordable. The government should listen to the STA and get the tax off the fuel used for these units. In fact, the Moe government should go further with a cut to the entire fuel tax.

This would help businesses save money and a fuel tax cut would also put more money directly back into everyday Saskatchewanians’ pockets.

About 24 per cent of the price you pay at the pump in Saskatchewan is taxes. That means every time you fill up a minivan, about $23 of the bill is tax. Those taxes include the federal gas tax that costs 10 cents per litre and GST that costs about 6.3 cents per litre. The Saskatchewan government also charges a provincial gas tax of 15 cents per litre.

When a trucker fills up their semi, they’re paying about $150 in provincial gas taxes when they fuel up. And just like with the refrigeration units, those extra costs are passed onto people buying stuff at stores.

Saskatchewan is losing on gas taxes to both of its neighbours. Alberta charges a 13 cents per litre fuel tax, while Manitoba charges a fuel tax of 12.5 cents per litre.

Cutting the fuel tax by 3.5 cents to 11.5 cents per litre would leave Saskatchewan with the lowest gas tax in Western Canada. That cut would save a semi driver about $34 per fill up. In total, slashing the gas tax by 3.5 cents per litre would save Saskatchewan taxpayers about $121 million a year.

Gas tax cuts are popular with taxpayers. Last year polling showed that 74 per cent of Saskatchewanians were in favour of a gas tax cut.

The Saskatchewan government also knows fuel taxes make life more expensive. For years, Premier Scott Moe rightly criticized the federal government for charging a carbon tax on fuel. Moe also went the extra mile in eliminating Saskatchewan’s industrial carbon tax because it made life more expensive.

Now it’s time to take another step forward for affordability, because the provincial fuel tax costs consumers just like the consumer carbon tax did. Both taxes drive up the cost of fuel, no matter which government is forcing them on Saskatchewanians.

Cutting the fuel tax helps Saskatchewanians save money today, but it also helps lessen the blow of any future carbon taxes imposed on Saskatchewan by Ottawa. That’s because Prime Minister Mark Carney may have gotten rid of the consumer carbon tax, but he promised to “improve and tighten” the industrial carbon tax.

That likely means that Carney is going to make the industrial carbon tax even more expensive. The Saskatchewan government should prepare for that reality by cutting the gas tax to the lowest rate in Western Canada to make life more affordable.