06-11-2014, 11:35 AM
Yes, tax on fuel is indeed the elephant in the room. What combines to make fuel more volatile (no pun intended) is the fact that any increase due to the price of crude is magnified by the 20% VAT.
The Green party would complain that it would be bad for the environment if fuel taxes were lowered. Well, to an extent maybe. Personally, driving is such a chore that I would not drive any more frequently or further, but I would have more disposable income to spend on other things, funding jobs and more taxation elsewhere. It would also lower the cost of things like food, and so the cycle grows. However, the Government will hide behind the Green argument, which they don't believe in, and certainly won't intervene to reduce the profits of the oil giants. It's just empty noise.
However, there is no doubt that we are being screwed big time by the fuel companies over fuel costs, and I am sick to death of hearing the Government rhetoric that every motorist is basically a hobbyist that doesn't really need a car. Public transport (a misnomer to start with since the Tories privatised that too) is non-existent in my area. Without a car I couldn't get to work, and neither could my wife.
Yet the companies always say "But we only make a small profit from selling petrol." Of course they do. That's because (I suspect) that their business is separated into the refining industry and the retail arm. The refining section of the business gouges the retail arm, who pass that onto the sucker, I mean customer. Then the head of the retail arm says "but we only make 1p profit per litre of petrol". As usual, it's the man behind the curtain (in this case the refiner and distributor) who is raking it in.
In fact, what really winds me up is the compound nature of tax. You earn money. It's taxed at source. You spend the remainder on food, energy etc, and those transactions are taxed at 5% (energy) and 20% for everything else. Then you put fuel (80% tax) into the car that you paid 20% tax on when you bought, to drive on roads that you pay £200 a year tax for. You pay hundreds of pounds to insure your car, including tax. Then if you have any money left after all this, when you die, your children pay 55% tax on it. Bastards. And even after all this, they can't balance the books because they're too busy starting wars all over the bloody place.
Rant over.
The Green party would complain that it would be bad for the environment if fuel taxes were lowered. Well, to an extent maybe. Personally, driving is such a chore that I would not drive any more frequently or further, but I would have more disposable income to spend on other things, funding jobs and more taxation elsewhere. It would also lower the cost of things like food, and so the cycle grows. However, the Government will hide behind the Green argument, which they don't believe in, and certainly won't intervene to reduce the profits of the oil giants. It's just empty noise.
However, there is no doubt that we are being screwed big time by the fuel companies over fuel costs, and I am sick to death of hearing the Government rhetoric that every motorist is basically a hobbyist that doesn't really need a car. Public transport (a misnomer to start with since the Tories privatised that too) is non-existent in my area. Without a car I couldn't get to work, and neither could my wife.
Yet the companies always say "But we only make a small profit from selling petrol." Of course they do. That's because (I suspect) that their business is separated into the refining industry and the retail arm. The refining section of the business gouges the retail arm, who pass that onto the sucker, I mean customer. Then the head of the retail arm says "but we only make 1p profit per litre of petrol". As usual, it's the man behind the curtain (in this case the refiner and distributor) who is raking it in.
In fact, what really winds me up is the compound nature of tax. You earn money. It's taxed at source. You spend the remainder on food, energy etc, and those transactions are taxed at 5% (energy) and 20% for everything else. Then you put fuel (80% tax) into the car that you paid 20% tax on when you bought, to drive on roads that you pay £200 a year tax for. You pay hundreds of pounds to insure your car, including tax. Then if you have any money left after all this, when you die, your children pay 55% tax on it. Bastards. And even after all this, they can't balance the books because they're too busy starting wars all over the bloody place.
Rant over.