Canadians must pay at least $87 to get a passport. In the U.S., it costs $30 U.S. (currently about $28 Cdn) to get a passport — and even at $30, the U.S. government is being accused of “gouging the public”.
A couple of thoughts about this price differential:
First: perhaps Finance Minister Jim Flaherty should stop picking on book retailers for their price differentials and compare the fees his government charges for various services. (I don't know how many e-mails I've had from folks crossing bridges at the border where tolls are still along the lines of $2 U.S. or $3 Cdn.)
Second: Why do they need that passport fee. Well, so far as the U.S. goes, Tom Casey, deputy spokesman for the U.S. State Department, was asked that very question. Here's his answer, given at yesterday's State Department press briefing:
QUESTION: Can you address the concerns of some people on the Hill that the State Department Passport Office is gouging the public with its $30 processing fee for passports?
MR. CASEY: Yeah, well, it's a bit of a complicated issue, Matt, but let me see if I can give you the simple answer I've gotten on it.
First of all, let me make clear that the State Department doesn't receive a penny of the execution fee. Most of that fee goes to the individual passport acceptance office where applications are received, so your local post office or local government offices getting the revenue from that. In the case of those applications that come in to one of our passport agencies, that money is transferred directly to the U.S. Treasury. So let me just make it clear, too, that anyone implying that the State Department is trying to seek some kind of advantage for itself in terms of these fees is just wrong on the facts.
I know that a lot of this is related to a GAO study that was done. And while that study does issue a number of criticisms, it does not, as I understand it, say that the Department was actually overcharging for these fees. What it did recommend is that we used a different and better methodology to substantiate the costs as we've determined them for this. And those costs are determined through a review by an outside contractor of what the actual cost is to us, the State Department, to be able to execute this. The GAO has recommended that future studies, including the one that is ongoing now, take account not only of our costs, the Department's costs, but also try and address the issue of what that cost is for some of these other outside organizations, the local post office and other facilities, just to make sure we have as accurate a depiction as possible of what the actual costs are.
Certainly, we always want to make sure that we are providing a good, high-quality service for the American people and that we're doing so in a cost-appropriate way. And again, in terms of the fees associated with a passport application, under the law, we have to and are required to charge what the costs are to us and to the U.S. Government as a whole of producing the document, adjudicating the case and moving forward on it. But we are comfortable that the fees that we are charging for this represent our best understanding of the actual cost of this.
QUESTION: Well, I don't think the allegation was that the State Department was somehow trying to profit from this itself, just that it was over — that the amount being charged for this processing fee or — what is it?
MR. CASEY: It's the — the official word is the execution fee.
QUESTION: That the amount being charged for this execution fee is more than double the actual execution cost.
MR. CASEY: Well, again, Matt, the determination of that is done through a review by an outside contractor that looks at the actual costs to us. And again, if there are concerns that the cost to agencies that receive this that are not part of the State Department may be lower or different, then that's certainly something we'll take a look at. And again, there's a review ongoing.
But the execution fee as determined is represented based on an outside review of what our actual costs are, and so we're comfortable that that represents our actual cost.
QUESTION: Even though these investigators seem to have found that $13 — I think it's 13 and $11 and some change on each — is the actual execution cost.
MR. CASEY: Well, I don't think they found that that's what it costs a U.S. Passport Agency to receive it. And again, our analysis of this is based on what it costs State Department passport agencies to provide this service. And again, I understand that there are some contentions that some of the local government organizations, post offices and others that receive them, have lower or different costs for that. And that's certainly something we'll take a look at. And we agree with the GAO's recommendation that we use more rigorous methodology in making this determination.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. CASEY: But again, I think we are comfortable that we've done a good analysis of our costs on this and that's reflected in the fees. And again, that's in compliance with the law.
QUESTION: So the very short answer to the question is no, you are not gouging the American public?
MR. CASEY: (Laughter.) The very short answer is no, we are not trying to gouge the American public, Matt. Thank you.