Canadian Trucking Alliance Backs Call for Diesel Tax Cut

The head of the Canadian Trucking Alliance said an announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that if re-elected he will cut the four cent per liter federal excise tax on diesel fuel in half was the right thing to do for the country’s truckers.

“Excise taxes on business inputs are an archaic and regressive form of taxation that should have been repealed or reformed back when the [tax] was introduced,” said CTA President David Bradley.

“Over the past year, the cost of diesel fuel has overtaken labor as the number one operating cost for many if not most truck fleets,” he said. “Today’s announcement is an important first step and it would be helpful in beginning to address some of the extreme economic pressure that the industry is under.”

The excise tax on diesel fuel was first introduced in Canada in the mid-1980s to raise cash to help the federal government cope with the fiscal deficits that prevailed at that time, CTA said.