Sunday, January 2, 2011

"The knife to their throats": More reactions to UK fuel tax rises

More justified protests from truckers over the New Year's rise in fuel taxes in the UK, says the Daily Express:
The Freight Transport Association (FTA) said: “Rising crude oil prices and the highest fuel tax in Europe means many businesses in the logistics sector are on borrowed time.
“Our members have no choice but to buy diesel to perform their services, so the knife is being held to their throats.
“It is a very competitive market and with cheaper foreign competition to contend with, it is UK businesses that bear the brunt of the increased costs.
“Unfortunately, this can lead to squeezed profit margins, job losses and ultimately, insolvencies.”
Fuel duty will rise each April from 2011 to 2014. Government forecasts show the tax take from duty will increase from £26.2 billion gained this year to £33.4 billion by 2015.
The rises could affect Britain’s ability to trade its way out of the recession, says the FTA
From hard-hit Scotland, the Herald reports on the New Year's hit:
Motoring organisations have called for the Government to cut duty on fuel to boost the economy as further hikes over the next few days put a further 4p on a litre.
According to the AA the average price of a litre of fuel in Britain will rise from £1.26 to £1.30 on January 4.
American householders are now typically paying a fraction of the price at just over 50p a litre, according to the latest figures. And EU figures show fuel prices in Britain have been the highest in Europe.
British motorists suffer as about 64% of the price of every litre of fuel goes to the Government in tax.
The latest British petrol price rises have been fuelled by a planned Government fuel duty rise which will put 0.76p on the price of a litre of petrol and diesel.
And next Tuesday the increase in VAT to 20% will mean pump prices go up again.
Though the Tory-LibDem government had declared an end to Labour's war on the motor car, it's insufficient austerity measures -- and reliance on selective tax increases -- has opened a new war on British taxpayers.

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