Fuel Duty Flop Leaves Motorists In The Cold

With the UK's annual Budget looming, the RAC has challenged Chancellor George Osborne to "go beyond his promise" to freeze fuel duty as it claims the current halt on petrol prices have had "little impact" on the tired and worn wallets of "cash-strapped" motorists.

Petrol pump prices in the UK still routinely contain the largest proportion of tax in the EU,
despite the fact that fuel duty has been frozen since March 2011.

This means that, of the 28 countries in the EU, it is UK drivers who pay the highest proportion of tax for diesel and the second highest for petrol, with only Sweden having comparable levels.

“We're only about two weeks away from the Budget and the Chancellor has made much of the fact that fuel duty has not risen for three years,” said RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister

“However this has made little impact on the huge proportion of tax the UK's 36 million drivers pay on their fuel.”

The RAC Foundation has also found that British drivers who use diesel to fuel their vehicles face the highest rate of tax in Europe.

Its figures showed that tax accounts for 59% of the price of diesel in the UK, with Sweden (56%) second and Italy (55%) third.

As much as 61% of the price of petrol in the UK is down to tax, with Swedes (62%) paying the most in tax and the Netherlands (61%) paying the same.

In contrast, of 28 European countries surveyed, Luxembourg's drivers fork out the least amount in tax which accounts for only 41% of the total price.

Professor Glaister, added: “The irony is that if you take tax out of the equation we actually have the fifth cheapest diesel in the EU and the second cheapest petrol.

“The oil companies and retailers are often blamed for soaring pump prices but these figures reveal that's not the whole picture.”

[Image by Anna Strumillo, Fotopedia]