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Class Action Against Irving Oil Re: 'Overtaxed Gas Prices' |
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Written by Wire Services
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Wednesday, 25 January 2006 |
MONTREAL - Option consommateurs and Mrs. Ginette Béchard filed a Motion for authorization to institute a class action against Irving Oil on January 20, 2006. According to the Petitioners, the oil company overtaxed gasoline prices.
The Fuel Tax Act requires Quebec consumers to pay a tax of a few cents for each litre of fuel they purchase. The law also provides for a lower rate of tax in border regions in order to take into account competition between gas stations on both sides of the border. This tax is also reduced in regions termed "peripheral" or "designated".
However, on May 25, 2004, the Court of Appeal ordered Irving Oil to reimburse $884,779.00 in overcharged taxes. In its judgment, the Court reveals that from January 1993 to December 1997, the oil company charged customers taxes which were higher than what was permitted under the law at its service stations located near the Quebec / New Brunswick border. The oil company would have done the same thing in other regions. [The suit asserts that] this was a repeat offence. Indeed, in 1993, the multinational corporation was ordered to remit over $188,000.00 to Revenue-Quebec for a similar infraction.
In so doing, Irving Oil would have contravened not only the Fuel Tax Act, but also the Competition Act, the Consumer Protection Act and the Civil Code of Quebec. Consumers would thereby have incured losses caused by the multinational. The class action aims at compensating consumers. |
