Carbon tax leaves few green choices for trucking industry

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Sifting through BC’s 2008-09 budget reveals that the trucking industry isn’t getting much for the carbon tax that we’re going to be paying. By 2012, the carbon tax on diesel fuel will be 8.2 cents per litre or at least $270 million per year. That’s on top of the up to 25 cents per litre that is already being collected by the province. This will make diesel tax in BC three times more expensive than Alberta and twice as high as any other province.

Yes, some of that will be returned in the form of reductions in other tax rates – personal, corporate and small business. And, there will be a sales tax exemption for one category of fuel-efficiency enhancing device. But the trucking industry will still be a big net tax payer in this “revenue- neutral” endeavour.

The trucking industry doesn’t need a tax to know that it should be fuel-efficient. Common and business sense told us that a long time ago, particularly since fuel is our second highest expense after labour.

What the Provincial Government should have done -and still can do -is to use some of that tax revenue to help the industry to adopt new technologies that will further improve fuel efficiency. Most of those technologies -like anti-idling devices and low rolling-resistance tires -are add-ons or options. Similarly, we need to invest in more expensive smog-free trucks.

The most perplexing thing about the carbon tax on diesel is that it’s 15% higher than the tax on gasoline. Does it make sense to tax trucking more than other road users who often have other transportation choices like car pooling or transit? The irony is that overtaxing our industry will make it that much more difficult for us go “green.”

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Truck News is Canada's leading trucking newspaper - news and information for trucking companies, owner/operators, truck drivers and logistics professionals working in the Canadian trucking industry.


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