PETROL – HIGH PRICES

Fact: If you live in the UK, you are taxed at 614% on your petrol. Petrol is now approaching £0.90 per litre. That's £4.10 a gallon. For every £50 fill-up, you're just giving the government £43 out of your own pocket. How do you end up with a figure of 614%? Fact: For the average family, a 1p increase per litre in the cost of fuel means an extra £46 a year out of their pocket.

Fuel duty has little to do with the environment. Leaded petrol was supposedly taxed highly for environmental reasons. Why then, when it was replaced with LRP did the price not come down?


Diesel fuel, although potentially renewable by using vegetable oils, is no longer substantially cheaper than leaded petrol. So, although it's technically cleaner (low sulphur etc), and potentially a renewable resource, it's taxed at near enough the same rate. Moreover, LPG is the cleanest fuel there is but the government aren't actively trying to get you to convert.


It’s a fact that £36 billion is sucked out of motorist's pockets each year in tax. You buy the planet's most expensive petrol, but do you see that money going back into the roads? No you do not. A recent study pointed out that most of Britain's roads are up to 15 years beyond their structural refurbishment date. More to the point, your council tax and new car tax is supposed to pay for this, not the petrol duty!
Fact: The Chancellor taxes the motorist more, despite what he says. According to
The Association of British Drivers, in a recent budget speech, it was stated that fuel duty
and pensions would rise in line with inflation, seeking credit for an end to the fuel duty escalator which had previously put petrol prices up above the inflation rate each year. Yet it has emerged that the figure used for pensions was 1.1%, while 3.3% was used to raise the price of fuel.
Fact: Freight companies are suffering - so is our trade with the EU. When a haulage company has to fill it's tanks with diesel taxed at such a ridiculous rate, it's running costs become so expensive that companies take their business to haulage firms based on the continent. That in turn means a loss of income for our country.
Fact: Public transport is not an option. Buses and coaches become more expensive again because of the underlying cost of running them. The privatised rail and bus companies continue to slash services and close branch routes because running them is not "cost effective." i.e. the shareholders aren't getting their dividends. And the government are doing nothing about it. Rail companies have been under performing and missing targets as stipulated by their contracts ever since privatisation. Yet they're all still in business. And again, your council tax should be paying for public transport. The petrol tax goes straight to the government instead of to local councils where it could be used to make some difference.
Would you pay this much tax on anything else you buy and not complain?
If other consumer products were taxed at 614%:
*2 pints of milk would cost £3.49
*a loaf of bread would cost £2.57
*a first class stamp would cost £1.85
*a cinema ticket would cost £35.70
*an no-frills evening out with dinner for two could cost £285.60
*a pack of batteries would cost £35.62
*a personal CD player would cost £921.06