Jonnybegood Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 A number of work colleagues and now friends are muttering that the Government will cut fuel duty to offset the global rise of oil. Oil is now at record highs and set continue for the foreseeable future, up until now the government has been reluctant to cut the duty as these are seen as blips from month to month, though this time these high fuel prices look set to continue and are starting to hurt the economy at a time when things are naturally starting to slow. Fuel prices are driving up inflation and pushing alot of people over the edge when combined with food and energy cost increases. I have had a think about it and I know many are going to say they cannot afford to cut duty, but weighing it up I see a good chance they will, especially with labour trailing at the polls. Cuts will be made elsewhere if need be just to keep the wheels turning, free bus passes for over 60s scrapped in wales maybe? They may choose to scrap or lower the VAT on energy costs to offset the rise of Electricity and Gas, again they will need to juggle the books but once the economy goes into free fall its to late and repossessions lead to social housing and payments. It may be a case of the lesser of 2 evils Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sikejsudjek Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 At the moment they are planning to increase duty in five months time. Their borrowing requirement is at record highs. A fall in tax receipts from house sales and economic slowdown isn't going to give them any room for duty cuts. They will have to cut back public spending and raise taxes before long. We are going into a recession with no room for manoeuvre. They could do lots of things by just printing more money, but the value of the pound is falling causing price rises for our import reliant economy. Its a big mess... http://uk.reuters.com/article/domesticNews...118096820080121 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yawnIHateSundays Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Well, they didn't back in 2000, and they were ni a much better position then to do so. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/925315.stm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cells Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 The government raises around £22bn a year in fuel duty - far more than the £13bn it raises from council tax or the combined revenue from taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and gambling. Given that it costs £420m to take 1p off the price of a litre of fuel, according to the independent think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies that was back in 2000, you can probably double those figures now so £800m or more to cut 1p off fuel. they would need to cut 20p just to get back to where we where 12 months ago do they really have £16b per year to spare? i think not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goonboy Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 do they really have £16b per year to spare? They could just rob the money off the poor by getting rid of the 10p tax band!!! Oh, wait... gB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnybegood Posted April 27, 2008 Author Share Posted April 27, 2008 that was back in 2000, you can probably double those figures nowso £800m or more to cut 1p off fuel. they would need to cut 20p just to get back to where we where 12 months ago do they really have £16b per year to spare? i think not At the moment we are taxed twice on fuel, firstly fuel duty is added and then VAT is added to the total of cost of fuel + duty. There have been calls for a change to the way this calculation is done, rather than charge VAT on both cost of fuel and duty, the VAT should only be added to the cost of the fuel and then duty added on top. Currently fuel costs approx 40p a litre duty is approx 50p and VAT adds a further 25p The proposal is 40p a litre plus VAT = 47p plus fuel duty = 97p We are charged VAT on fuel duty!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofa Spud Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Possibly if the economy gets worse I can see the government cutting fuel duty to commercial transport companies, or alternatively issuing rebates. I can see no reason why they'd reduce it for private motorists, though. I used to run a car that could just about manage 20 mpg . For the last 4 years I've run one that does 50+ mpg. I've saved thousands of pounds in fuel costs. My next car will be in the 50 - 55 mpg bracket. Fuel costs aren't high if you run an economical car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 do they really have £16b per year to spare? They had £30bn to throw at Northern Rock and another £50bn to throw at the other banks (with promises of more if needed). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Its time to buy Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 BOE bailout the motorists Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cs02rm0 Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Yes, they might 'lose' a lot of money if they reduce tax on fuel - but come on, they pay 8p a litre in Saudi Arabia for petrol. We're being fleeced completely. Not that I mind in the short term, quicker house prices come crashing down the better as far as I'm concerned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
right_freds_dead Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 Yes, they might 'lose' a lot of money if they reduce tax on fuel - but come on, they pay 8p a litre in Saudi Arabia for petrol. We're being fleeced completely. hold on. i thought the people of saudi arabia were repressed. with all that 'hand chopping off' and palaces for kings. i thought they all had to work like slaves and were allowed to live in tiny kingdom slave boxes while the king took all their wages. hang on a minute...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 hold on. i thought the people of saudi arabia were repressed. with all that 'hand chopping off' and palaces for kings.i thought they all had to work like slaves and were allowed to live in tiny kingdom slave boxes while the king took all their wages. No contradiction there. With petrol at only 8p a litre, the king can take most of their wages without much in the way of problems. If I understand the situation correctly, in Saudi Arabia you can drive across thousands of miles of featureless desert on virtually free petrol, but if you criticise the king or decide you don't want to be a Muslim anymore, you will soon find out what Charles I felt like. hang on a minute...... It takes around 15 the way the Saudis do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Its time to buy Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 (edited) Edited April 27, 2008 by notanewmember Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundance_kid Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 I don't see why they couldn't freeze ior drop fuel tax since north sea oil will compensate. (High oil price at the moment). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonnybegood Posted April 27, 2008 Author Share Posted April 27, 2008 I did hear somewhere last week, (I think newsnight) that the Government were drawing up emergency measures similar to those following the last fuel protest. They were talking about Grangemouth and how it could affect supplies and the general cost of fuel these days. The measure did include temporary lowering of fuel duty to offset price increases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
right_freds_dead Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 No contradiction there. With petrol at only 8p a litre, the king can take most of their wages without much in the way of problems. If I understand the situation correctly, in Saudi Arabia you can drive across thousands of miles of featureless desert on virtually free petrol, but if you criticise the king or decide you don't want to be a Muslim anymore, you will soon find out what Charles I felt like. still. 8p a litre though !! whats anyone got to critisise about the king about ? you dont have to be a muslim. you can just SAY your a muslim. you dont need to believe it. giving it the old "behead those that insult allah" banners etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofa Spud Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 in Saudi Arabia you can drive across thousands of miles of featureless desert on virtually free petrol, But only if you're a man. Saudi Arabia operates a system of apartheid as women are not allowed to drive, travel without permission of a male or do many other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
right_freds_dead Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 (edited) But only if you're a man. Saudi Arabia operates a system of apartheid as women are not allowed to drive, travel without permission of a male or do many other things. wow. i thought the 8p a litre was pretty cool but.... Edited April 27, 2008 by right_freds_dead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cells Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 They could just rob the money off the poor by getting rid of the 10p tax band!!! total income tax brings in about 100bil personally i would rather have another £2 per liter of fuel duty & get rid of lower band income tax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huw Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 total income tax brings in about 100bilpersonally i would rather have another £2 per liter of fuel duty & get rid of lower band income tax. Me too, at least that way you get some choice/control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BROF Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 So to recap, 1. House price inflation due to poor government policy has led to the majority of the population not being able to afford to buy somewhere to live. Noone resigned 2. The banking sector has all but failed (due to poor government regulation) and the taxpayer is keeping it afloat. Noone resigned 3. Rising prices in everything from food to fuel has made it increasingly difficult for the economy to function and it is widely acknowledged that government figures are fiddled to mask this fact, public sector workers are then told to accept pay rises based on these figures. The majority of the population are now faced with unprecedented levels of personal debt. Noone resigned 4. We are presently involved in 2 wars (which noone even mentions anymore) neither of which we had a predetermined exit strategy for, in states that arguably offered no threat to the security of this country and the intelligence we used to justify going there in the first place has now been acknowledged by the people who sent us there as being flawed. Noone resigned 5. We have nothing left in the coffers (e.g to pay for reducing fuel duty) to help during a downturn in the economy due to government mismanagement. Our gold reserves were sold at an all-time low just as the price of gold went to the moon. Noone resigned. When and how did the British population become so complacent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 I guess they could do, afterall every time the price increases they get more VAT anyway. (although as its added on top of duty they would have to change the rate of VAT or remove duty gradually) But then this is the government that doubled taxes for lower earners. So they wont. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChumpusRex Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 I don't see why they couldn't freeze ior drop fuel tax since north sea oil will compensate. (High oil price at the moment). The problem is that north sea oil production is falling rapidly, and is has not been enough to meet requirements for several years. The higher the oil price, the more we have spend to import it (a problem not helped by the collapsing value of the pound on international currency markets). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairies Wear Boots Posted April 27, 2008 Share Posted April 27, 2008 you dont have to be a muslim. you can just SAY your a muslim. You don't have to say you are a muslim. There's no problem with non muslims. The problem is if you are a muslim and you decide you don't want to be one anymore. That's not allowed and is punishable by death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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