Remember on last night’s news we warned you about the one dollar gas tax that was coming into effect on April first. Well we wish we could says it was an April fool’s prank, but we can’t; it came into effect at midnight all right, but not at one dollar, more like one dollar and thirty cents!

That’s right, the adjusted price for a gallon of premium fuel in Belize City is $7.35 – an increase of $1.32; the price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $6.99, an increase of one $1.33; and the price of a gallon of diesel fuel is $5.69, an increase of $1.34.

The Prime Minister unveiled the new tax measure in his budget speech in March. But at the time he said it would only be one dollar per gallon; this is a full 33% more than what was promised and he committed to keep the cost of gasoline at below seven dollars – which is true only for regular which is at six dollars ninety nine cents. Government hopes to raise $30 million with the new tax measure; it passed up about $40 million in taxes last year with the introduction of a flat tax on fuel – which made for the lowest pump prices in a decade.