Alberta's gas tax collection will be partially returning in October

Alberta announced Thursday that it will soon start to resume its gas tax collection after it was introduced in the spring due to sky-high prices at the pump.

Back in April, the Alberta government suspended the gas tax collection, reducing the price at the pump by 13 cents per litre as motorists struggled with rising gas prices alongside record-setting inflation.

The province says Albertans will still get some benefits from the province’s fuel tax relief program, saving 8.5 cents on every litre of gas and diesel at the pump come October 1.

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“Earlier this year, Alberta’s government introduced the fuel tax relief program to help Albertans deal with higher fuel costs. The program continues to provide fuel tax savings as long as the average price of WTI is above US$79.99 per barrel. In the first six months of the program, Albertans saved $630 million in fuel tax relief,” the President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance Jason Nixon said in a news release.

The government said it would review the program quarterly and re-evaluate fuel tax savings in stages only if the average price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil fell below US$90 per barrel

The province says due to the global economy slowing, WTI prices over the four-week period ending September 15 averaged $89.26 per barrel.

The province claims that Albertans will save over $200 million over the next three months with fuel tax savings at 8.5 cents per litre starting in October.

Fuel tax savings are calculated quarterly with the government providing another program update in December.