120.9p for a litre of diesel. O RLY?
So, the fuel price is calculated (roughly speaking) as the actual price, then the duty, then the VAT (yes, that’s right folks, you pay tax on the tax!). So let’s take the VAT off that price.
102.8p
OK, each litre of diesel has 54.68p duty on it. Let’s get that off as well.
48.2p
That’s right, folks, thanks to Thatcher’s government, Bush’s war, Blair’s spinelessness and Brown’s lack of organisation, 48.2 pence of diesel actually costs 120.9p. 72.7p on taxes. Of this, 18.1p is actually TAX on the DUTY.
And people are quite happily going along with this? Our grandfathers took to the streets for less than this, but our generation are cap-in-handedly tugging our forelocks, taking a deep sigh, and just putting up with it. We should all be bloody ashamed of ourselves.Â
May 31, 2008 at 7:29 pm
I agree… the protests of a couple of years ago seemed to make everyone think, and that was about 80p/litre. But no-one seems to have any appetite for that (sort of participation) any more..
A sad state of affairs. The closest I have seen is semi-spam type emails encouraging people to boycott one or the other of the big oil companies, which I can’t help thinking is only partially helpful, if at all. I personally boycott Esso because of their political support in encouraging increased use of fossil fuels over the past decade (and more, especially in the US) and their refusal to carry LPG (which I have driven for over 250k). Now driving diesel and find 129.9 quite sickening.