Taxes key to petrol prices

Taxes key to petrol prices

www.abc.net.au

The ACCC's new Petrol Commissioner cannot do anything to reduce the price of petrol. Creating a Petrol Commissioner is also a distraction from how government can actually reduce the price of petrol: reduce Government taxes.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I have been saying this for a long time now.
The government give the impression of cracking down on profiteering in times of crisis yet it is OK for them to do the same.

Look at it this way.

Blaming petrol companies for the high cost of petrol also ignores one of the major reasons that petrol is expensive: government taxes. Petrol companies make only a few cents profit per litre of petrol. In comparison, 41 per cent of the price of petrol is state and federal taxes.

so if the price of fuel is $0.50 then the Govt will get $0.205 but if the price of fuel is $1.00 they get $0.41/litre. This way as the prices go up so does thier revenue. Need I say more?

www.abc.net.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

I thought I might give this one another run for the now waking US audience.
Remember, even though the study was done in Brisbane I am sure it applies world wide.

reply to post by VIKINGANT


Not necessarily. There are massive differences around the world with regards to the make-up of the price of petrol. In the UK, for example, the government keeps taxes high on petrol, which allows the government an excellent revenue stream (as people use cars a lot, even when they don't have to), and it also allows the government to take the hit if oil gets more expensive by lowering taxes to maintain the same (or similar, government moves slower than oil prices) price of petrol at the pump. That's why petrol prices in Europe might be higher than in the US, but they don't fluctuate nearly as much, which allows people and businesses to budget for their fuel expenditure far more easily. The low taxes on petrol in the US means the population are at the whim of the oil prices, which can preclude some people from driving overnight.