April bringing tax changes that will impact price of gas, booze for Albertans

April is the first full month of spring, but this year it also means some big tax changes that could greatly impact how much Albertans pay for certain products.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the consumer carbon tax will be killed as of Tuesday, meaning the price everyday Canadians pay for emissions will be set at $0.

With the 17.6 cents/per litre tax being lifted, drivers should notice a pretty sizeable rollback within 24 hours, according to experts.

“The drop for gas should be 17.6 cents/per litre effective April 1, which may get rounded up to 18 cents/per lite,” says EnPro’s Roger McKnight. “There may be some adjustments because of the HST built into the pump price.”

“These price changes will be independent of changes at the wholesale/rack level, or exchange rates.”

McKnight says diesel should see a price drop around 21.4 cents/per litre.

The price drops may not be exactly the tax amount since there are many factors at play in the final pump price, including the cost of crude oil, U.S. tariffs and seasonal swings as stations transition to summer gasoline and refineries undergo routine maintenance.

It will likely take a little longer for homeowners to reap the same benefits, with University of Calgary economist Blake Schaeffer saying the average home that burns 10 gigajoules of natural gas per month will save about $40 monthly. Enmax says it won’t apply to natural gas use past Apr. 1.

The axing of the carbon tax also means and end to the carbon tax rebate, which was providing the-average family-of-four in Alberta with about $1,800 per year.

The savings many will get at the pump may be partially offset by a bump in prices at the liquor store.

The federal alcohol excise tax is going up by 2 per cent and a new tax from Alberta, Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC) is also being implemented on ‘high-value’ wine — with bottles valued above $25 seeing a 15 per cent increase.

The increase in fees will see wines priced between $15 and $20 hit with a 5 per cent markup, wines between $20 and $25 getting a 10 per cent markup, and anything above $25 a 15 per cent increase.

In a statement to CityNews, Alberta’s minister of red tape reduction says the change will only impact around 16 per cent of all wines sold in Alberta.

Beer Canada estimates the federal excise tax will cost taxpayers about $40 million in the coming year.

The latest Calgary gas prices can be found here.