DC: no more petrol duty rises
The Prime Minister has promised to "keep going" by scapping planned fuel duty rises proposed by the last government.
Speaking in Derbyshire he referred to the negative impact which increases in "really big bills" have on both ordinary households and the economy. It is now "understood to be unlikely" (to quote the Daily Telegraph here) that there will be any further duty increases between now and the General Election, unless the price of oil falls sharply and triggers the fuel price stabliser to change direction.
David Cameron said: “The truth is this, when we got in, the previous government had set out a whole lot of plans for fuel duty increases. It was like a whole lot of unexploded bombs which we have had to try and defuse.”
“We have cancelled and delayed almost all of these fuel duty increases. We even cut fuel duty on one occasion. We will keep going to try and keep those fuel duty increases off, recognising that it is the really big bills that people really care about and want help with.”
The last Labour government introduced a fuel duty escalator in its final budget which involved increasing the tax on petrol and diesel by a penny per litre above inflation until at least 2014-15.
The Coalition has already blocked 13 pence worth of rises on fuel, at a cost of about £6 billion to the Exchequer. Further rises of at least 4p or 5p per litre would be expected before the next election without renewed action.
David Cameron also promised to look at additional incentives for those who drive "really fuel efficient cars"
Comments
It just so happens I done a paperwork exercise yesterday to see how much money the government currently take, and to be honest its shocking.
Lets say I take a Second Job (just on a Saturday) now all I intend to do with this second wage is fill my car each week.
So lets say I earn £100 for my days work. I actually only get to spend £27.23 on fuel. The government takes the rest.
£20 is stolen as Income Tax
£12 is stolen as National Insurance
£29.43 is stolen as "Fuel Duty"
£5.45 is stolen as VAT on my fuel
and just to show you could not make it up
£5.89 is stolen as VAT on the Fuel duty.
The government steal £72.77 of my £100 wage.
I often call taxation robbery, as that's what it is really. Though I don't want to give highway men a bad name. At least Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask, and said "thank you".
It's never the super-rich who pay the bill for the grandiose schemes and incompetence of the likes of Gordon Brown - they have clever tax accountants to help them escape. Not that New Labour cared - Peter Mandelson said they were completely relaxed about millionaires getting filthy rich. (At least, they were relaxed if the millionaires concerned were New Labour donors.)
It's always the decent working man and woman in the middle who pays the price, and the tax, for clearing up the government's mess.
Just in case anyone misunderstands, IMHO the mess being cleared up is the previous Labour government's mess.
Where does the problem lie? Is it with this party or that one? or is the problem caused by "representative democracy"
Good question isn't it.
It is wise that people should keep up the pressure on governments of all parties to keep the cost of living down.
I think the blame lies closer to home, I think the blame lies with the electorate.
lets say I roast a joint of beef, then let it "rest" on a baking shelf on the kitchen floor. whilst I go out for an hour.
I put my 2 dogs in the kitchen. when i come home the meat is gone. Now it wont take me long to find out which dog ate it, but is it right to blame the dog? or is it my fault, perhaps i should not have set up and allowed such a thing to happen.
the fault lies with the current system in its entirety, you see no party should ever have been able to do that.
Remember demand 5?:
5. no taxes or spending without consent:
no tax, charge or levy shall be imposed, nor any public spending authorised, nor any sum borrowed by any national or local government except with the express permission of the majority of the people, by popular vote if so required, renewed annually on presentation of a properly authenticated budget which shall first have been approved by their respective legislatures;