Alberta's Gas Tax Holiday Saves Drivers Up to 13 Cents a Litre

Alberta's gas tax holiday began on October 1st, allowing residents to save money at the pumps. The province will be pausing its tax of 13 cents per litre on gasoline and diesel until the end of the year to ease the pressure of high everyday costs.

This move comes as the oil-rich province's treasury reaps the benefit of steep global energy prices. In fact, Alberta's budget is heavily dependent on oil exports, and before the conflict in the Middle East, it was predicting a $9.4-billion deficit this fiscal year.

However, with the tax cut, the province estimates it will forego $350 million in revenue in the coming three months. This move is expected to have more of an impact on consumers than the previous $100 fuel tax rebate program, which was rolled out in July and has only seen around 1.5 million applications out of nearly 3.4 million eligible adults.

The federal government has also extended its fuel excise tax relief until the end of January, which is expected to save drivers up to 10 cents a litre on gas, or four cents per litre on diesel.