| The price of fuel in the UK has nothing to do with who is in power in the US, nor the output from OPEC.
The US only pay 27% fuel duty which means that their 30p per litre price is only 8p tax!
If you changed this to our 73% taxing system instead ... you get the same base price for a litre of petrol before tax!
Don't forget that this excludes the proposed 2p per litre tax hike on petrol in September ... which means an equivalent 58% rise in fuel duty AND 15% rise in VAT on the price.
(source: AA)
It is in the interest of the Chancellor to keep prices high as this means even more money for the government to spend on red tape, taxis to work and subsidising the drinks in the Westminister bar.
Ooops! Little bit of alternative politics there!
[Edited on 4-6-2004 by antonye] |