Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 22/05) - The territorial government has no plans to lower its fuel tax to give consumers a break from high prices.

"We haven't looked at lowering the tax," Finance Minister Floyd Roland said. Lowering the tax would cost the government money at a time when it is also paying higher gas prices, he explained. "We'd lose revenue and we're still being hit by the cost of the product."

For example, he points out the government is paying higher costs to operate each vehicle it owns and businesses are factoring in higher fuel prices in tenders for government work.

The tax on gasoline earns the GNWT $4.4 million per year.

The minister believes NWT residents understand the price of gas is beyond the territorial government's control. "I think people are not happy about it, but they're fairly well informed."

Roland says the high price of gas will affect the NWT economy.

"There are going to be impacts for sure on the negative side," he said.

For example, he said, businesses will pass along higher transportation costs to consumers. Roland noted North Americans still have relatively low gas prices when compared with much of the world.

"If we were up that high, people would be in for an absolute shock."