Motor fuel taxes in Canada

Fuel tax rates across Canada

Gasoline

Diesel

Notes

Tax collection and rate changes

In March 2022, the Alberta government announced it would suspend the collection of the fuel tax starting April 1, as a way to fight the rising cost of fuel.

In December 2023, the Alberta government announced that with lower oil prices, the fuel tax would be phased back in after Dec. 31, 2023.

On March 15, 2025 the Government of Canada enabled regulations that set the federal fuel charge to 0. The effective date for the change was April 1, 2025. The affected provinces and territories were Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, and Yukon. After this announcement, Premier of British Columbia David Eby announced the elimination of the BC carbon tax on April 1, 2025.

Tax revenues

The Government of Canada collects about $5 billion per year in excise taxes on gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel as well as approximately $1.6 billion per year from GST revenues on gasoline and diesel (net of input tax credits). The Canada Revenue Agency, a part of the government, collects these taxes.

Collectively, the provincial governments collect approximately $8 billion per year from excise taxes on gasoline and diesel.

The federal taxes go into general coffers and help to fund a range of programs: $2 billion of the approximately $5 billion collected from federal excise taxes goes into the now permanent annual Gas Tax Fund for municipal infrastructure. Provincial tax revenues usually go to fund road repair and construction, and additionally in some provinces a portion of revenues (for example, 2 cents/litre in Ontario) is also distributed directly to municipalities.

Criticism

In Quebec, an Ipsos poll released in 2022 found that 73% of the population thought that the taxes levied on fuel were too high.

References

References

1. (July 2006). "Oil and Gas Prices, Taxes and Consumers". Department of Finance (Canada).
2. Agency, Canada Revenue. (2017-06-22). "Current Rates of Excise Taxes".
3. Agency, Canada Revenue. (2022-09-08). "Fuel Charge Rates".
4. (22 July 2019). "Gasoline Tax".
5. Toolkit, Web Experience. (2017-03-14). "Gasoline Tax Rates".
6. "Nova Scotia Department of Finance - Tobacco & Fuel".
7. Government of New Brunswick, Canada. (2013-01-30). "Gasoline, Motive Fuel and Carbon Emitting Product Tax A basic overview of the taxation of gasoline, motive fuel and carbon emitting products".
8. "Fuel Tax Rates".
9. (June 2017). "Table of Fuel Tax Rates in Québec, by Region".
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11. "Mixed feelings as Manitoba’s gas tax holiday begins - Winnipeg {{!}} Globalnews.ca".
12. (October 1, 2021). "Information Bulletin FT-1 The Fuel Tax and Road Use Charge Act".
13. "Fuel tax rates". Government of Alberta.
14. (April 1, 2023). "Bulletin MFT-CT 005 Tax Rates on Fuels".
15. (2019-06-11). "Find current fuel tax rates in Yukon".
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17. (January 1, 2022). "Nunavet Tax Rates 2022".
18. "Taxation Division - Finance".
19. French, Janet. (March 7, 2022). "Alberta to pause collection of provincial fuel tax to help consumers shocked by high prices".
20. (23 November 2023). "Pumped up: Alberta gas tax slated to return in January".
21. Agency, Canada Revenue. (2022-09-08). "Fuel charge rates".
22. (2025-04-01). "B.C. eliminates carbon tax".
23. (October 2005). "ARCHIVED - BACKGROUNDER – OIL AND GAS PRICES, TAXES AND CONSUMERS". [[Department of Finance Canada]].
24. Ministry of Transportation. "Backgrounder - How municipalities benefit from provincial gas tax funding". Government of Ontario, Canada.
25. QMI, Agence. (17 March 2022). "Les Québécois préfèrent l'idée d'un pétrole "Made in Quebec"".