As far as the GST component is concerned we can clearly see the triple dipping taking place by our governments. In my mind it is a grievous burden to levy a sales tax on something that already includes a well defined tax structure within the final retail price. But all of this is another bone of contention for future debate.

Given that our Yukon fuel taxes are so low in comparison with the rest of Canada why are prices so high at the pumps outside of Whitehorse, in particular Dawson City? The cliché has always been that it’s the shipping and transportation costs that contribute to sometimes crippling prices for all kinds of commodities here. Is this really true?

Let’s look at a general comparison between Whitehorse and Dawson. First of all Whitehorse pump prices of around 84 cents per litre for unleaded regular are not that far off from the national average. But compare that with today’s price in Dawson; $1.31 per litre regular unleaded. A difference of 47¢ a litre or $1.78 per US gallon. Is that spread really a reflection of the extra overhead attributed to doing business in Dawson or is it exploitive pricing?

Here’s a simple way of calculating the retail cost of fuel. The New York Mercantile Exchange sets the daily wholesale price for gasoline. As of last Friday it worked out to approximately 36¢ per litre in Canadian funds. Now add the markup, in Ontario it’s about 14¢ per litre, let’s be generous and for the sake of argument determine that the margin for Yukon will be more than double, let’s make it 30¢ giving us a new total of 66¢ per litre. Now add the total excise taxes of 16.2 cents for a total of 82.2 cents per litre at the pumps (excluding the 5% gst). Now that’s pretty close to the current Whitehorse prices but wildly out of whack with Dawson.

The tanker trucks that bring fuel to Dawson can each carry 37,500 litres or more . If we multiply that quantity by the 47¢ per litre extra that the gas station in Dawson charges compared to Whitehorse we are looking at $17,625 added to the value of the contents of one tanker truck between Whitehorse and Dawson. Or a B-Train tanker can carry 63,000 litres for an added value of $29,610. How’s that for a windfall profit for a shipping distance of only 300 miles?

As Dawsonites we really need to wrap our heads around this and not take it lying down. I’m sure the suppliers will have every excuse in the book to justify their predatory pricing practices.

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