Mark: Govt plans to increase gas prices

Making his contribution at yesterday’s sitting of the Senate, Mark noted that Government, in its 2006 Budget statement, stated that approximately $1.4 billion had been spent on subsidies to maintain the prices of gasoline and other petroleum products.

He said Government would eventually have to decide a reasonable price at which to sell these commodities on the domestic market, and was simply serving notice that it would eventually increase fuel prices.

The Senate was debating the Excise Duty (Petroleum Products) Order, 2005.

Mark warned the Government that if that was its intention, it would meet with the full resistance of the people. The Opposition senator said this country has been producing crude oil since the 1890s and citizens had grown to understand that oil and gas were their national heritage. Fuel subsidy, he said, "could be seen as a fair and equitable distribution of revenues earned by our country through the production of oil."

Government must therefore be careful in seeking to adjust the prices of petroleum products, he said. Any adjustment, he said, should be a reduction in the price of gas, thereby raising the standard of living of citizens.

According to Mark, prior to the recent abolition of the Road Improvement Tax (RIT), citizens had been paying three separate taxes for fuel at the pump — excise tax, the RIT and 15 percent Value Added Tax (VAT). These taxes, he said, amounted to 50 percent of the domestic price of fuel. He said Government yesterday indicated it expected to spend $1.564 billion in fuel subsidy at the end of 2006, of which $902 million would come from Government through subsidy, and $652 million would come from production levy. However, up to yesterday, Mark argued, Government never mentioned how much money oil companies would pay in subsidies.

Mark, who had to be warned several times by Senate Vice President Rawle Titus to stay within the confines of the motion, said Government must engage the national community, the Opposition and all Members of Parliament in dialogue on any additional moves to increase fuel prices. There was no need for a price increase, Mark said, suggesting that Government should instead seek other avenues for revenue. As Government contemplates an increase in the price of fuel, Mark said, it needed to pay attention to energy conservation.