The low cost of gas and our liberal government

When the price of gas was creeping up ever higher earlier this year, our government enjoyed an increase in tax revenue, as the tax they receive is based on a percentage of the overall price of the fuel. They could have provided us with relief by lowering those taxes and keeping their tax revenue stable, but they didn't; instead, they advised us to buy more fuel efficient cars, so I replaced my not-so-fuel-efficient Pontiac Grand Am GT with a fun and frugal brand new Nissan Micra SV. It's a brilliant little commuter, and an excellent choice for the frugal minded who still like to have some fun when driving. It's not just me; lately, I've been seeing gas sipping cars growing exponentially on our roads and highways: Honda Fit's, Nissan Versa's, Mitsubishi Mirage's, Hyundai Accent's, Ford Fiesta's, Chevrolet Spark's, in addition to hybrid and electric cars have exploded in numbers.

We listened to our government, and did what we were told. We're using much less gas and generating negligible amounts of pollution. As a result, the overall demand for petroleum has declined. When it came to electricity, rates went up when our demand dropped, but that's because this utility is a province-controlled monopoly. Not so with gas, and now we have gas prices that have not been seen in nearly 10 years. Hooray for us, our frugal choices should mean that we now have extra money to do things like take care of household debt, contribute to our retirement, or go out and have more fun by redistributing those savings back into the economy through theatre, restaurants, and other leisure oriented businesses. We Canadians should be able to reap the rewards of our collective frugality.

Not so fast! Our provincial leader, Kathleen Wynne, has announced that, since tax revenue has dropped due to low gas prices, her liberal party is exploring options to increase taxes on gasoline.

Now, one would think that government would have become more efficient over the past 10 years, but they have not. They have only become even more bloated and inefficient. This means that you and I will need to be ever-increasingly frugal in our choices just so government can continue wasting a lot of the money it gets. Waste in the form of gas plant cancellations. Waste in the form of two separate but very similar school boards. Waste in so many other ways, it would take several blog posts to go over them all. Someone voted them in, and it certainly wasn't me.

The provincial government of Ontario does not have our best interest in mind, so enjoy the low gas prices while you can. Just don't expect our government to make it easy to get ahead in life, unless you have a government job.