Why is fuel tax so high and why wont Gordon lower it?

Question

Why is fuel tax so high and why wont Gordon lower it?

Answer 1

It's insane. About 59% of the price of petrol is fuel duty and tax. About a year ago petrol cost about 85p per litre. Hence the govt got about 50p for every litre sold.

Now it costs about £1.17 so now the govt gets 69p per litre.

I have no idea how much fuel is sold monthly in the UK but i'd imagine it's higher than a billion litres. Therefore the govt gets at least an extra £190m in fuel taxes/VAT per month higher than budgeted for.

And they don't pass any of that windfall back down to the consumer. What a great country this is.

Yes the price of petrol has gone through the roof but given the manufacturer's price is only about 30% of what we pay the actual raw cost has only gone up by about 10p per litre (on the 85p - £1.17 example scale).

He's trying to use it to pay for his other mistakes of course. The 10% income tax fiasco and the personal allowance payout to fix it. Oh and of course he still has to keep on paying out those benefits and 'tax credits'. I think we should all quit work.

Answer 2

Until the price of oil goes down (if it ever will), Brown can't lower the cost of fuel...

They're getting away with charging the earth for it, so why would they lower it anyway... they are politicians afterall!

I agree that it might also be to encourage us to drive more energy efficient cars and use less power...

x

Answer 3

all the taxes are so high to pay for the upkeep of those who wont work and all the immigrants who dont pay into the system.

Answer 4

He can't drive himself and therefore doesn't see the car the same way we do.  He just seems to view it as a cash cow.

Answer 5

Fuel tax is not realy any higher now than it was ayear ago its the price of oil that risen! oil is rising as it running out with only 11 years of reserves left at current usge - thats why the price is rising.

Gordon cannot alter the tax he\s already getting form fuel as rules about VAT and budget clawback forbid this, he has delayed the latest rises to help people.

rather than ***** about the cost of fuel or perceived tax on it try and use LESS!

Answer 6

Yourt question is delightfully vague and rather misleading as it implies that fuel tax is at a high point.  Is it?

Let's look at it in a few ways.

Is the total take from fuel at a high point?  I doubt it as most of the reports I have read suggest that some of us at least are reducing our consumption.  So the actual monthly input to the Treasury could have been reduced recently.

OK, so how about the percentage of the pump price taken by the government.  This will have reduced (certainly over the last six months) as the duty is a fixed price per litre and has not been increased recently.  So, expressed as a percentage, this has fallen.

The third way of interpreting your question is that the number of pence per litre taken by the Treasury has increased.  This is true as the VAT element will increase as the overall price increases.  But the other participants in the chain of supply have increased their cuts by more than the government.  Why pick only one element to criticise?

Finally, don't forget that the whole idea of increasing duty by more than the rate of inflation (the accelerator) was introduced by the last Conservative government and abandoned by the present incumbents around the turn of the century.  If teh Tories had remained in power you could well be paying a lot more for your fuel.

There are lots of things I would like to call Gordon Brown to account for but it seems ironic that the general public spend most of their time ctiticising things he hasn't done.

Answer 7

He can't lower it - because of all his back door dealings and money laundering to make the country look better than it was - if he cuts the tax - the whole country will be backrupt.

Proof is as you are seeing now - inflation going up, bills soaring, fuel going up and up.

house prices falling - the country is broke because of this lunatic

Man29066 - fuel tax is now almost 98pence on each litre of fuel - by any account that is extortion

Answer 8

The UK uses taxation for two purposes - 1. to raise money for public spending and 2. to try to limit the people's social habits to what the government thinks is good.

Purpose 1 is right and proper, even though we might not like paying.  Taxation should not, however, be used for purpose 2.  The professed intention of high fuel duty is to reduce consumption, and so it will, but only in the section of the community who can't afford to pay more.  Better-off people who can afford it will not use less - they will just pay more and complain (the same goes for car registration tax).  Inevitably the higher cost of fuel will increase the cost of most other goods and services, notably food and heating costs - which again will mainly hit the section of community who can't really afford to pay more for it.

Answer 9

because he's a greedy b********

Answer 10

To encourage you to drive more fuel efficient cars or to drive less and use alternate transportation such as buses, trains or bikes. The higher the gas price, the less driving and the less dependence on foreign oil. It is a lesson that my country, the U.S., could use...