pabs

Not strictly true otherwise everything would be free!

I agree

RoadrunnerV2

Bare in mind though their cars drink around 10mpg while I'd say we average 20mpg so therefore they are paying similar to us

Still - Raise the prices on then yanks and reduce our prices. The yanks are to blame for having 6ltr engines

RB170

If I have a poor month and don't get enough in as I need then I reduce my spending on none essentials.....

If the government were to reduce taxes on fuel then they wouldn't need to raise funds they just need to reduce spending on certain areas such as the war against Iraq.

Carlos13

If we're going to have a fuel strike can we at least wait until after my Cadwell track day on Friday?

It seems to me that the current high prices are due to the price of oil doubling in the last couple of years. If they reduce tax on fuel they'll just have to raise it elsewhere. Personally I am in favour of fuel taxing as it taxes our use of resources. Don't use it, don't pay the tax. If you are concerned about running costs then what are you doing in a Subaru? Get a diesel golf instead and save a fortune.

dmc1980

As said above, stopping paying for the fecking illegal immigrants and imigrants to have a house and food and kick the ******* out. The same goes for the lazy scum who cant be bothered to go out and get a job.

catalunya199again

that is true but most people have probably owned there car for a while when petrol was semi reasonable, if the "genius" chancellor didnt waste all our money we wouldnt need hideous taxes. striking is the publics only way only telling government to get a grip on things the french do it and never lose out they wait till there government cave in. also heres the funy part how comes tere was a strike when the prices werent as high as this

imlach

Maybe it'd be worth understanding what the blockade was about first....

The blockade a few years back was a protest about the planned fuel duty increases the chancellor was proposing. So, the goverment backed down and froze fuel duty. Since then it has remained at the same level (about 48.5p per litre).

This time, there is nothing to protest about. The chancellor has not increased fuel duty (it's still 48.5p/litre), it is the hike in crude oil prices from $30 to $70 a barrel that has caused the recent rises.

ie, the goverment haven't increased taxes, so what is the point in protesting against the goverment? It is a global oil price issue.

DPat

Sorry, but the fairest tax is not on what you earn, but on what you spend - you have absolute choice ov er what you spend

If income/NI/poll tax were all removed and VAT increased to compensate then we would be paying approx. 25%
(don't forget all those civil servents we would no longer have to fund)

ethanrob

iTrader: (3)

was looking forward to my run down to euro disney with the family,ha ha i was thinking,nice cheap optimax,oh didnt i get a shock at the shell garage in calais 1.42 euro's per litre,that equals around £1 per litre,me think's it wont be long before the garlic chewer's have the motorways blocked again,dont really like the french,but when they object to something they stand up and fight

ozzy

48.5p! ****, I remember paying that for a litre.

So does anyone know the exact breakdown for our £1 per litre?

If you want to protest, do it against the fuel companies. It would be great if everyone just stopped buying the stuff, but that's never gonna happen.

I don't mind paying for something if we get value. If we pay high tax, then I want to see it spent appropriately. I wish the Government would sort out their own wastage before expecting the tax payer to cover every mistake

Paying for petrol thesedays is like loosing a bo!!ock

jasonius

iTrader: (1)

I personally didn't realise the duty was still fixed at 48.5p/ltr, if this is the case 'in real terms' (good political speak..!) we're now paying less tax on fuel (% wise)..!

I should be a spin doc for the government, even though I hate the robbing b@stards..!

imlach

Yep, check out my post the other day on this...

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showpost....9&postcount=14

Steve777

iTrader: (8)

Well none of them have been getting my money for a couple of weeks any, so not affecting me at the moment

Mind that is all about to change this week, but having said that Ive lost my Turbo and increased (Nearly doubled) my mpg. So HAlf price fuel motoring in a way

jacksdad

Still only 89.9p per litre in Aberdeen

GU5

Although the duty has been frozen you're still paying VAT on the total price, therefore the Goverment are making more on each letre of fuel sold.

Anyway, how long before everything in shops starts going up due to increases in distribution charges?

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

99.9p per lite in Aberdeen for Optimax...

Lots of people complaining about the price of fuel, and that we should do something about it.

Last year the average price for Optimax/SUL was probably about 85p/litre. It's gone up roughly 15p per litre, and assuming a 50 litre fill-up, then that's £7.50 extra per tank of fuel. Most people would use a tank of fuel once every 1 - 2 weeks (yes there are some who do high miles and go through a tank every few days, but there are also those who only use the Scoob at weekends...) So on average, you are paying about £5/week more for fuel, or the price of a couple of pints of beer down your local pub of an evening, or a packet of crisps and tin of fizzy pop from the vending machine at work every few days. In real terms, it's not that much of a difference for the average person.

Some people have opted out of Impreza ownership due to the high fuel costs, and swapped to turbo-diesel machinery instead. Yes, you may save £100/month in fuel costs, but if you look at the whole ownership costs and include depreciation on a newish turbo diesel compared to a 3 to 4 year old Impreza of similar value, then you'll find there's really not a lot in it, as you'll lose almost all (or more) of the £100/month saving in depreciation. However, you do notice the fuel costs more, as you physically pay for fuel on each visit to a petrol station, whereas depreciation and other costs are hidden - you only pay them when you come to trade in your car after a few years.

One last thing. Petrol comes from oil. In the UK, the vast majority of it comes from underneath the North Sea, where it is extracted at high pressures and temperatures, and needs very specialised equipment to extract it from the ground, filter out all the water (some wells produce 90% water/10% oil), and other contaminants, before pumping it back onshore at great expense. Onshore, it is then pumped to a refinery where it gets processed into petrol and various other products. All this has to be done to very exacting standards. It is then transported in specialised tankers across the UK from a few refineries, and stored and dispensed under controlled conditions at your local petrol station. The government then adds on about 300% in taxes before you pay your 99p/litre at the pump. At the end of the day, the price you pay isn't that much different to the price of fizzy pop in the same petrol station, if you assume about 99p for a 750ml bottle (or 60p for a330ml tin). This is probably 90% water, 10% sugar and flavouring, and doesn't need any special transportation or storage needs Milk isn't that much cheaper either!!

John

Carlos13

Agree with most of what you say John, but have you seen what's happened to Impreza prices lately? My money would have been better put into a new/nearly new diesel I reckon...

And...my heart bleeds for the poor old oil companies, all that hard work to bring us our petrol, bless em. Whats that you say, record profits? Millions of pounds per minute...?

alwong

It's a good reason why i couldn't get another STI. It costs far too much to run (petrol/servicing/depreciation)

wide

Exactly . How much is a gallon of beer

GU5

You don't need a gallon of beer to get you to work though

tath

In fairness a gallon of beer is about £20, but lasts a lot longer. I'm much more fuel efficient than an ej20 ya see.

Brit_in_Japan

We may whinge about the price of petrol and think ourselves the poor relations to other countries in comparison (e.g. the US). But taking one isolated issue and making a comparison is to ignore the big picture. If you want to compare the tax/benefit systems of the UK with the US, then you would need to compare the costs of things like health cover too. In the UK you don't need to think about whether you can get treatment if you are ill. You can choose to get additional private health cover but you don't need it.

In comparison the US is famed for it's high quality/high cost health industry. Great if you have cover, great, but if you don't.... I think it's about 30% of US citizens have no cover if they suffer a long term chronic illness. Think of family or friends who have suffered such a condition, would you want them to have the extra stress of struggling to pay for treatment? Or perhaps they wouldn't be able to afford treatment at all, do you think that's OK just so you can fill up your car with lower price petrol? I guess the US have accepted that millions of their citizens do not have access to such health care, but what's acceptable to them is not necessarily acceptable for us.

Here in Japan there is a national health service and they deduct a percentage of your wages to cover it. But you have to pay 30% of the cost of treatment. If someone has to have a big operation, I'm told that family and friends hold fundraising events to pay for the treatment. Is that the type of system we want in the UK? I'm sure it would cost less.

One last thought, consider the cost and efficiency of collecting taxes. When in the 1970's Labour had a crippling top rate of marginal taxation, the very wealthy simply moved overseas or employed elborate accounting schemes to avoid paying it. VAT is a tax which is not liked and billions are lost to the exchequer each year due to the "black industry", the cash-in-hand world which is not declared. VAT is also expensive to administer. Fuel tax is very cheap to administer and very difficult to avoid. Using that measure it is a "good" tax.

The world is changing, the days of plentiful supply of cheap petrol are over. Get used to it quick as it's not going to improve markedly and is most likely to get much more expensive yet.