Oil price too high?

Hi

Just to mention again, I am from Vancouver studying Economics. Today, I want to talk about this local city I am living in.

Last night at around 3 A.M, I popped out from bed and read an article when I was half asleep. It talked about how $3/gallon for oil price hurt the economy. After I finished reading it, it made me anger for the Vancouver government.

Vancouver is a city where GPD are fairly low than other cities in North America. However, they are currently charging $1.14 CAN/litre. That is around 3.6/gallon. It is defintely not the demand that is making the price being so high. The main reason is the high tax on gasoline. In Vancouver, there is a 20.5 cents/litre of genral tax plus 5 cents/litre of gas each consumer purchases goes to the public transportation monopoly Translink. "In 2008, taxes in Canada represented on average 35% of the pump price versus 20% in the U.S. Taxes include a Federal Excise Tax of 10.0¢ for Regular, 4.0¢ for Diesel and Provincial Tax"(http://www.vancouvergasprices.com/can_tax_info.aspx).

This will hurt the local economy and I don't know what is in the government's mind.
I really hope that the government in Vancouver can lower the gasoline tax as well as other taxes such as the income tax. According to the Lafer curve in Economics, marginal revenue starts decreases when the taxes are too high. I think Vancouver has reached the top point. Thus, I hope the government to create more job opportunies instead of continuing to raise tax to cover the deficit.

Thanks

MC