B.C. Trucking Association president Dave Earle said rising diesel prices are putting a major damper on the province’s trucking and transportation sector.
The spat between Iran and the United States has reached one month and consumers might soon feel the pinch, with certain goods likely to cost more if no solution is found.
Earle told Vista Radio even interprovincial short-haul trips will become more expensive. However, the price impact will vary depending on what’s being shipped.
“If you think about a trip that costs $3000, that may be an interprovincial run between Vancouver and Edmonton. A thousand of that is fuel – if fuel prices go up 50% that means that run goes up by $500 and the goods in that truck are going to be $500 more expensive.”
“If it’s six million dollars worth of electronics, what is an extra 500 bucks? If it’s fresh produce that is worth $20,000 – 500 dollars represents a lot more cost for that item. The thing is, that 500 dollars extra, a full load of lettuce is 20,000 heads and that’s pennies. ”
“The problem is that its pennies on everything and it’s only trip in the supply chain. That doesn’t include a run from the San Fernando Valley to Vancouver, it’s that run from Vancouver to Edmonton and doesn’t include the back runs – it doesn’t include upstream costs – all these things get built in,” added Earle.
He noted when it comes to the taxation burden for fuel, it is taxed where it is burned, not where it is purchased.
“So, in other words, if I decide as an inter-provincial trucking company that I am going to buy all my fuel in Alberta and then when I drive around B.C. I am going to buy fuel that is not taxed as heavily. That doesn’t work as there are interjurisdictional tax agreements right across North America and companies pay tax on where actually where the fuel is burned and not where it is purchased.”
B.C. has the most expensive taxation and fuel prices on the continent, a trend that has been that way for years with no signs of slowing down according to Earle .
“And you and I as taxpayers pay for that free fully and we vote governments in and make decisions that create these costs and you and I pay. Everything that you and I buy has a little bit more in the price that is built in because of the taxation on transportation and fuel in British Columbia.”
‘Every dollar that gets spent in our economy via taxes, fuel prices, building a courthouse, whatever it is, everyone of those dollars is paid by you and I the consumer and tax payer. There is no mysterious pot of money – it is you and I.”
Earle added the entity that controls the price on the shelf is the entity that also puts the product on the shelf.
The price of fuel in Prince George ranges from 159.9 cents per litre to 168.9 cents, with diesel usually five to seven cents higher.
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