The Atlantic Provinces Trucking Association (APTA) has condemned new provincial budget measures in Newfoundland and Labrador that will see a 15% sales tax added to truckers’ insurance premiums. The premium increase, to take effect on July 1, is in addition to a $0.05 per litre tax on diesel fuel, along with an increase in fees for various licences and permits.
The new insurance premiums will have “serious implications on trucking companies’ bottom lines” and will put them at a competitive disadvantage, states APTA.
“This has definitely caught the industry off guard and will cost Newfoundland & Labrador trucking companies thousands of dollars in extra costs,” stated Jean-Marc Picard, executive director of APTA. “It’s unfortunate, but consumers will end up bearing most of these costs.
“Our industry cannot sustain these additional costs, some of them will have to be passed down to customers and ultimately, consumers will end up paying more for their goods.”
The fuel taxes will rank Newfoundland and Labrador among the highest taxed provinces in Canada at nearly $0.26 cents per litre for diesel. The new surcharges are among the province’s efforts to counter a $2-billion deficit as well as plummeting oil and gas prices.
“We understand the province is in a very difficult financial situation but a 5-cents per litre increase on diesel tax is very steep,” APTA states.
“This is not the ideal scenario since residents of Newfoundlander & Labrador traditionally pay more for their goods because of the ferry services that bring goods on the Island. Along with the HST and permit increases, the cost of goods might be worse than expected for the residents.”
The province also announced in its April 14 budget that it will be introducing a “temporary deficit reduction levy”, to run through July 2016 to 2018, including staggered income tax hikes and HST increasing from 13% to 15%.
Stated the province, “The impacts of poor planning by the previous administration, coupled with commodity price decreases will, and are, impacting our economy.”
