It annoys us all that we have to pay such extortionate prices for fuel in this country (£8worth=£7tax/£1fuel), but here are a couple of points to consider:

1: There never seems to be enough money to sort out the NHS or pay teachers appropriate wages etc, so if the government cut the tax on petrol they would have to find the money elsewhere. Increase tax for large companies?

2:I travel to Hong Kong occasionally, where it is quite rare to own a car because of the expense in road license etc. Fuel is cheaper (I think) but they pay ridiculous amounts of road tax even if they only use the car once a week. People over there would like to have our system where you are taxed mainly on fuel. That way you are only paying tax for the amount that you use your car.
Is there a simple solution?
The time will come when everybody drives around in electric cars. Unfortunately there seems to be no sign of a performance electric car in the near future, so we will all have to put up with paying these high fuel prices.


[This message has been edited by dustbin hoffman (edited 08 August 2001).]

 

Sounds good to me, my girlfriend should get a good bonus then...!

I'm paying 78p a litre for my SUL at the mo. from Esso... on the A2..

 

[Rant Mode On]

Yesterday BP reported record half year profits of £5.6bln, thats £200m a week!!! Already the media and 'motoring goups' are descibing them as 'obscene' and 'excessive greed' trying to champion for the motorist who pays for ludicrously expensive petrol. And the government is also rumoured to be thinking about levying windfall taxes on the likes of shell and BP unless they pass on their records profits in the form of cheaper petrol prices. I'm sorry but these reactions wind me up so much!!! It deflects attention and all the heat away from the government and they love it!!! BP's results yesterday showed that they actually lose money on the forecourts and that if it wasn't for the food, papers and **** that they sell, they'd lose even more. All their profits come from Oil exploration, production and US gas services, nothing to do with petrol profiteering!. This information isn't hard come by, so why is it the media etc insist on jumping on the "Down with Oil companies!!!" bandwagon thus misleading the public about why our petrol is so high?
As Scooby owners we all have cars that use their fair share of petrol but we are all hopefully in a position where we can cope with the price, many aren't so lucky!!!

Sorry, just wanted to get that off my chest! (BTW I dont work for BP or Shell !!!)

[Rant Mode Off]


Discuss

 

Nice post.

I thought for a moment you were going to jump on the media bandwagon.

Why can't the media spot that tax/duty accounts for the vast majority of petrol prices?

 

Disco,
Please keep the [rant mode] on. I am not in your situation regarding the price of a liter although it is getting close where I live...well not really, but still a pain in the ****! But the point is, what is a gallon {US) or a liter worth really? How much do the oil companies really make off of the consumer? Are thier operational cost outwaying thier greed? Who administers this price setting? All are questions that the media seems to have the answers for but in reality it is the oil companies who set the prices! We have a unique situation in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.....no supply high demand......darn SUV owners! Additionally there are no real price guidelines here. Demand is up...prices go up. Funny how prices go up during the summer when everyone wants to travel around the US via thier car regardless of supply. they have us by the ***** bro!...ok maybe I should stop my rant mode.

Michael Olds

 

Lufty
We have pretty bad situation for petrol in the UK, trade price is amongst the lowest in the world but we are taxed at 80% or so so the oil companies aren't really the ones making big bucks from the motorist!

The pump price is around £0.80/litre (so $1.12 or so!!!) or about the highest for any developed nation!

Jon

 

Polar,
Yes I know your plight. I have traveled Europe extensivly when I worked for Luft(y)hansa for 13 years. I just do not understand the taxation without repre...uh sorry.. I do not understand why taxation of petrol should be so high. I understand the use of public transportation is important to continue conservation but be honest, why tax petrol? I pay up to USD $5.50 for a pack of 20 cigerettes. Now that is a tax! Yet I only pay USD 2.00 for a gallon (roughly 4 liters) of gas? I guess that each government finds a way to make revenue but still...government profit or manufacture profit....we are still the ones who pay.....a darn it...had rant mode on...sheesh...

Michael Olds

 

Mungo...Thanks. To be honest I think many sections of the media do realise that price is due to taxes etc, but love to hype things up to sell more papers. My paper this morning did mention briefly that BP lost money at the pumps but still slagged them off accross the front page for not passing on the profits. You've got to wonder why they bother, there would be nothing to stop them pulling out of petrol retailing altogether. Lets face it, they lose money and still get slagged off for it!!! If BP/Shell etc pulled out, the price of petrol would really rocket!

Luftyone...Initially the government/s (both old and new are to blame) claimed that the high tax on leaded petrol was for enviromental reasons but amazingly when UN-leaded etc came on the scene it never fell?!?
We pay approx 63p ($0.90) a litre in tax alone, leaving only around 18p to pay for production, distribution, retail etc.