MSE News: High petrol prices to be investigated

colino

Right there are several reasons for our eye-wateringly high pump prices, primarily because we historically collect taxes from motorists and motorists, in general, continue to buy as much and supply this revenue to the exchequer.
For decades the middle east crude power brokers turned up and down prices merely by restricting supply. Prices then shot up, rolls royces were bought, foreign governments complained, the supply increased, prices came down and their people stayed poor.
"Energy" companies have ridden this storm and they continue to make fortunes selling the same gloopy stuff into countries with high taxation regimes, low price demands, poor countries, rich countries and in each and every territory, are extremely profitable.
We could vote in a new government, reduce overall fuel taxes and then who would pay 45% tax on their PAYE? Equally we could nationalise BP and get them to do the job for the common good again.
Think it'll happen?

skivenov

liam8282 wrote: »

It is not the cost of the fuel that is the problem, it is the tax and vat that is whacked on top of it that is.

... and the illegal VAT on the tax, but I can't see the OFT being too interestted in that.

As I understand it, that all adds up to about £1.20 a litre, so I'm not massively botherred if the fuel companies are overcharging by 5p.

luckwudaveit

Another waste of money. About as independent as 4 bars of a KitKat.

Same goes for the Airport study that has been commissioned.

adamc260

note wrote: »

always find it funny how successive governments try to pin the blame of high fuel prices on the companies that make it for less than 50p / litre.

complete waste of time and money this survey, as others have pointed out.

Spot on, the government want the oil companies to do it for less but they won't cut the vat/tax. Rather one sided eh

forgotmyname

They need to stop robbing peter to pay paul.

Tax on transport to fund transport. Tax anything unhealthy to fund the NHS etc.

When they had the fuel strikes all those years back they said they needed the funds raised for the health service.

I had to think err WHY... are motorists funding the health service? Ive never taken my car to the hospital for a checkup or Xray.
Although it maybe interesting to watch what happens to it in the MRI scanner.

The just need to see that having a hospital with 30 doctors and nurses and 30 managers + other admin staff is not viable.

Stop paying their mates millions of pounds for stupid surveys they wont take action on either.

Its the old boy and mason network.

Why pay £100 million to build a hospital when you have shares in a company that can build the same thing for £200 million and give you a nice bung also.

Where is the education meeting? Mauritius? WHY?

I bet that cost more than a few million £.

alinwales

I'd blame the bankers... they're the ones trading the futures, and got it up to ~$150 last time around - I bet a few of them have a sweep on when they'll be able to do it again. It's a bit like the libor 'scandal'.

I'm pretty sure that anything can be blamed on bankers these days! Now where's our proper summer eh??

Narc

Waste of time, it's the masses of tax on it that is the problem.

note_2

Narc wrote: »

Waste of time, it's the masses of tax on it that is the problem.

well said that man! :T

Dave_C_2

My prediction:

Do we motorists get a fair deal at the fuel pump? ...... No.
What will the OFT and Government do about it? ........ Nothing.
Will fuel tax rise a the next budget? ........................ Of course it will.

Dave

redux

I'm not going to be as cynical as some of the people here.

I'd actually been wondering whether to contact the OFT and ask whether they monitor prices

One things that doesn't make sense is the difference between petrol and diesel price, which has been increasing over the years. Thd duty is the same, and so should the retail price be, excepot in the winter when the demand for heating oil used to push up the price of diesel about 3 pence.

Comparing the diesel prices between here and abroad, it used to be about 12 or 15 pence a litre more here than in say Belgium and France, and Luxembourg was about 20 pence cheaper than here, but now the difference is always over 20 pence and sometimes well over 30 pence, and about 40 pence compared to Luxembourg.

That may be all due to duty increases here, but I am sceptical.