Thread: Petition to reduce fuel duty

Us humans will just compensate by destroying mother earth another way. All we are good as is destroying things no matter what it is at all. Oil might be less but we will find corn, sugar or switchback grass to destroy and pillage like we always do. It's always something. On a nother note, did you guys hear about the new inavation in trains? France and Germany are trying to build a new magnet train system that will use less oil to use it. It could revolutionize the train industry. I think it's exciting because if they can apply that in terresterial traveling mechanisms, then they can with aerospace engineering as well! Maybe I could fly as a flying passenger to the moon in thirty years!

Good observation,
Peter

Originally Posted by Akria

Aren't global prices also up?

I think that's an inevitable trend.
Much of the current crude comes from giant fields that are relatively cheap to operate.
To keep up with demand requires new fields to be found. But the rate of discoveries and their size have both, on average, been declining for years. Smaller fields means that more are required and production costs are greater.

That said, I don't believe that current oil prices reasonably reflect actual increases in costs. Nor Dollar exchange rate weakening. Current demand makes it a seller's market. Jack up the prices. The buyers will still buy.

The extra revenue from oil price hikes has traditionally spurred renewed efforts to discover and exploit new fields that would not otherwise have been commercially viable.

I see no great evidence of that. Maybe diminishing returns is kicking in.

Global prices are up but in the UK we have the highest petrol/diesel prices than almost any country in the world and there is simply one reason for that we have the highest duties/taxes being levied and , of course ,since the VAT element is a percentage every time the base oil price goes up then the increase in actual money which goes to the Government increases significantly as does the pump price
Also you need to bear in mind this is an extremely damaging tax on our transport industry which is finding it impossible to compete with foreign hauliers who buy at significantly lower prices than our companies can do. As a result foreign trucks fill up with petrol/diesel before they cross the Channel and then can undercut our hauliers. I have a friend based in the Midlands who travels down to Spain and back every week the only way he can compete is to have the warning light flashing as he gets off the ferry then he fills up in France with just enough to get to Spain where he fills up again. However for companies who are only operating in UK they cannot compete with the foreigners who use agents to get the business and then actually work in this country.
Also bear in mind the Government is raking in money in taxes from the higher price of oil from all the oil companies.
The Duty element of the petrol price is also a regressive tax and hits the lower paid very badly indeed. If the Government carries on taxing fuel to the hilt in a never ending spiral of increases then it will not be long before only a few of us will be able to afford a car.
Throw in the new vehicle road fund licence fee which has absolutely nothing to do with saving the world ( cars bought 5 years ago when noone had any inkling of the proposed level of the fee will have to pay just as much as new car purchases yet the increase can only affect your choice today not 5 years ago )