Fuel duty exposed - the hidden tax

[waynne]

From 2007-10-01 the main road fuel (petrol and diesel) duty rate in the UK is GBP£0.5035 per litre.

The rate for biodiesel and bioethanol is £0.3035.
Jet fuel used for international aviation attracts no duty, and no VAT.

This is not the whole story, Value Added Tax (VAT), currently at 17.5%, is also charged on the price of the fuel and on the duty. At a pump price of 100p/litre (typical for unleaded as at November 2007), this would put the combined tax at 65.24p/litre, or approximately USD$4.84 per gallon. (Thus without tax, the retail price would be 34.76p per litre, making a combined tax rate of 188%.

So for the average TorqueCars driver doing 12,000 miles per year would spend £1,599.60 on fuel (assuming a steady 34 mpg and £1 per litre!) which actually adds up to a pretty heafty tax bill. (Without tax this driver would spend £553.20!)

At least the latest 2p per litre increase is postponed for another 6 months.

[Izo Azlion]

Robbing b*****s. But then, as smokers thin out due to no smoking in pubs, surely the revenue lost here is just being added to something 99.9% of us do - drive.

Tossers seriously...

[pgarner]

yeah does the 2p not work out at something stupid for the govt its about £1.8 billion or something.
If someone who would control this country with a bit of lets get this country back idea rather than trying to please the majority of voters.

my ideas

1. limit immigration to skilled workers such as other countries do eg doctors dentists
2. immigrants pay and entrance fee to the govt say around £1000 each upon approval
3. benefits can only be payed to those born in the UK
( ive nothing against immigrants but someone working here and claiming for kids abroad aint right )
4. Unemployment benefit is payed for a max of 6 months then nothing payments are also worked out at less than the min wage ( 37 hrs at £5 = £185 a week max )
5. Incapacity benefit is only payed to those with serious issues, none of this ive stubbed my toe cant work, long term sick lines ( over 2 months ) must be signed off by a consultant not a gp as this would show that treatment has been sought.
6. stop spending money helping 3rd world countries, why not start getting our sorted 1st
7. Bye Bye easy life in prison lags made to work, dont care if its breaking up rocks, repairing roads or even building new prisons or houses
8. those earning over £250k a year higher tax band
9. NHS doctors / nurses paid by how many patients are successfully treated, with money taken off the hospitals for cases where the patient has caught something in hospital or has been misdiagnosed.
10. Forces given better living conditions, form experience ive have been accommodated in some over several bases both RAF and Army. some have been good some terrible
11. (finally got onto something to do with cars ) Road tax, congestion charges, fuel duty all used to maintain roads. not diverted elsewhere

now ive run out of ideas

but i will be running for PM at the next elections so look forward to your votes

[waynne]

Just a heads up - this thread is dangerously going to become politically charged. Lets just assume that whoever it is that runs the country will still make mistakes and acknowledge that they all have the answers - till they get into power. My original thread is not aimed at the current government - it is aimed more at the system.

I don't know about you but reducing the amount of tax I pay is a more powerful motivator to reduce car usage that the fluffy "save the environment" arguement - is that just me though?

[pgarner]

no i think they idea is that the price of fuel gets so high that noone apart from the silly rich can afford to run a car. and weve saved the planet yeah.

[waynne]

Its back to how it was in the 30's and 40's then! I'm going to buy a horse and get it lowered - perhaps a Shetland pony would do!

[blacklineninja]

The thing is, people need to use their cars. We have congestion at rush hour precisely because that's the time 90% of drivers need to be on the road to get to work.

It's no good saying people should use public transport. Railways are trying to dissuade people from using their "services" and busses are woefully inadequate - I had to use them for three years after my accident before driving again, and I could either be an hour early for work catching the early morning bus, or ridiculously late. Time out of my day that I don't get paid for and I didn't get home until an hour and half or more after I'd finished. In my car it's 20 minutes each way, sometimes up to 40 minutes if traffic's bad.