An NDP motion to suspend Saskatchewan's fuel tax failed to pass in the Saskatchewan legislature on Thursday.Every legislative sitting, the provincial Opposition is allowed one priority motion that can trigger a standing vote on an important issue. The Opposition forced a vote on the following:"That the Assembly calls upon the government to suspend the collection of the provincial fuel tax from gasoline and diesel for a period of six months in order to help families struggling with the high cost of living."The majority Saskatchewan Party government voted against the motion, which would have removed the 15-cent-per-litre excise tax. The federal GST is applied not only to the pump price but also other taxes.Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck said the high cost of fuel was making life harder.“Saskatchewan people are breaking the bank just to fill the tank, in part because of the provincial gas tax,” said Beck.“I think this no-vote shows just how out of touch the Premier and his MLAs have become with the challenges facing working families.”Provincial governments in Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador have already delivered gas tax relief. Affordability Critic Trent Wotherspoon reiterated NDP claims the Sask Party government had done too little on affordability issues.“It’s just wrong to deny relief to hardworking families at a time like this, especially after this tired and out-of-touch government made the cost of living worse with power bill hikes and more taxes,” said Wotherspoon.According to Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan was one of only three provinces to see median market income fall since 2018. When Moe became premier that year, families made on average $67,500. Today the figure is $65,900, a 2.37% decrease, despite inflation in Saskatchewan increasing by 16% over that time.Beck and her NDP colleagues have called on the Moe government to suspend their provincial gas tax every day of the spring session.Following Question Period, Moe said the Sask Party had delivered plenty of tax relief already, and a rise in the basic personal exemption that occurred in the Brad Wall era has been maintained and kept 112,000 people from paying income taxes to the province."Each and every day I stand in the legislature and talk about the $2 billion in affordability measures that this government is able to ensure remain in this year's budget, and it remained in each and every year's budget. We shouldn't take that for granted. That's only possible due to the strength of a strong and growing economy," Moe said."If it is such an urgent motion for the members opposite--it was due to be voted on two weeks ago. And the Leader of the Opposition chose to delay it because her and some of her caucus colleagues and staff were attending a Trudeau campaign school a 'call to arms' by an Ottawa based-labour organization."Gage Haubrich, Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said his organization has advocated for the gas tax to be cut and the outright refusal was "super disappointing.""The premier loves to talk about how he's helping Saskatchewanians with affordability. One of the easiest measures they can do is to cut that gas tax and get people savings at the pump. And they're showing you that they don't actually want to do that and are out of touch with what the people of Saskatchewan are seeing for bills and aren't doing anything to help them out," Haubrich said."This government in the past has done a lot of tax relief for taxpayers, but they've been resting on those laurels for a long time."
An NDP motion to suspend Saskatchewan's fuel tax failed to pass in the Saskatchewan legislature on Thursday.Every legislative sitting, the provincial Opposition is allowed one priority motion that can trigger a standing vote on an important issue. The Opposition forced a vote on the following:"That the Assembly calls upon the government to suspend the collection of the provincial fuel tax from gasoline and diesel for a period of six months in order to help families struggling with the high cost of living."The majority Saskatchewan Party government voted against the motion, which would have removed the 15-cent-per-litre excise tax. The federal GST is applied not only to the pump price but also other taxes.Official Opposition Leader Carla Beck said the high cost of fuel was making life harder.“Saskatchewan people are breaking the bank just to fill the tank, in part because of the provincial gas tax,” said Beck.“I think this no-vote shows just how out of touch the Premier and his MLAs have become with the challenges facing working families.”Provincial governments in Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario, and Newfoundland and Labrador have already delivered gas tax relief. Affordability Critic Trent Wotherspoon reiterated NDP claims the Sask Party government had done too little on affordability issues.“It’s just wrong to deny relief to hardworking families at a time like this, especially after this tired and out-of-touch government made the cost of living worse with power bill hikes and more taxes,” said Wotherspoon.According to Statistics Canada, Saskatchewan was one of only three provinces to see median market income fall since 2018. When Moe became premier that year, families made on average $67,500. Today the figure is $65,900, a 2.37% decrease, despite inflation in Saskatchewan increasing by 16% over that time.Beck and her NDP colleagues have called on the Moe government to suspend their provincial gas tax every day of the spring session.Following Question Period, Moe said the Sask Party had delivered plenty of tax relief already, and a rise in the basic personal exemption that occurred in the Brad Wall era has been maintained and kept 112,000 people from paying income taxes to the province."Each and every day I stand in the legislature and talk about the $2 billion in affordability measures that this government is able to ensure remain in this year's budget, and it remained in each and every year's budget. We shouldn't take that for granted. That's only possible due to the strength of a strong and growing economy," Moe said."If it is such an urgent motion for the members opposite--it was due to be voted on two weeks ago. And the Leader of the Opposition chose to delay it because her and some of her caucus colleagues and staff were attending a Trudeau campaign school a 'call to arms' by an Ottawa based-labour organization."Gage Haubrich, Prairie Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation said his organization has advocated for the gas tax to be cut and the outright refusal was "super disappointing.""The premier loves to talk about how he's helping Saskatchewanians with affordability. One of the easiest measures they can do is to cut that gas tax and get people savings at the pump. And they're showing you that they don't actually want to do that and are out of touch with what the people of Saskatchewan are seeing for bills and aren't doing anything to help them out," Haubrich said."This government in the past has done a lot of tax relief for taxpayers, but they've been resting on those laurels for a long time."
