Thanks to sliding oil prices...

[Hagar]

So you see the Government has no control over the cost of a barrel of crude but they do over the tax. So there is your only logical complaint.

There is obviously some underlying political argument that I'm unaware of. I don't know how it works in the US but in the UK a large proportion (something like 75% I believe) of the price of fuel is tax. This makes the real price of our $7 gallon actually $1.75 before duty & tax.

The Government can obviously affect the price of petrol overnight if it wishes & until recently fuel duty was increased at every annual budget. If the price of a barrel of oil rises so does the tax revenue. A hidden benefit of percentage taxes like 17.5% VAT which is added on after the fuel duty. If the product price rises the amount of VAT revenue increases accordingly. This affects every other commodity you can think of & the economy as a whole. Due to the recent large increases in oil prices fuel duty in the UK has remained static for the last couple of years. This is obviously a local thing & does not affect fuel prices in other countries.

The actual price of a barrel of oil is set by OPEC which could be thought of as politically orientated. It's their decisions which affect the everyday prices of the basic product. http://www.opec.org/home/

[Katahu]

Im still waiting for the "What about the children" complaint mixed into this oil debate. "I can't afford to take my kids to soccer with the cost of gas, when is the President going to do something about this!?"

I don't understand why people always turn to the government to solve everything for them, especially here in the states. Don't these people know that the government [whether it's run by a democrate, republican, indepentent, Mickey Mouse, I don't care] never had the balls to stand up to those oil companies because those companies have their hands on them?

Even if in the future a US president does stand up to the oil companies and says "enough is enough", there's a good chance that president might end up like JF Kennedy... in a coffin.

[Politically Incorrect]

The answer to that is easy, we are lazy.
It is so much easier to blame someone else than it is to take personal responsibility and the Government just happens to be the easiest.

Especially with parents, they are to busy to care for thier own children and expect the Government to protect and mandate thier lives, this is why day by day we are losing our freedoms we were born with, why we can't see, hear or say anything for fear of "hurting the children", this is why video games and music and literature are under attack due to content, even though they are rated per age group. A kid goes out and shoots up a school, it isn't bad parenting to blame it is music, games or TV. it becomes the Governments fault for not preventing the tragedy.

A hurricane is reported days in advance of striking a coast line, a city that is built below sea level is warned of the impending danger, it strikes and leave people dead, homes and lives destoyed, it isnt't Mother Nature to blame it is the Government for not doing something to prevent it.

I can go on and on, and this can go beyond oil alone, as I have shown above.

Bottom line is people refuse to know the truth, learn why and how things work, and when something happens that they can't control they blame the Government.

It is the absolute easy way out plain and simple. We are all "against" Government" that is until something goes wrong and need someone to place blame on.

[Katahu]

Bottom line is people refuse to know the truth, learn why and how things work, and when something happens that they can't control they blame the Government.

"Truth is elusive to those who refuse to see with both eyes wide." - Stargate SG1 -

Never thought that a tv quote holds true. Silly isn't it?

[Saitek]

P.I as Doug pointed out when (I don't know what it is but I'l ltake DOug's figure) 75% of your petrol costs goes directly to the government it takes a lot of persuading to say that there is no political bias.
OPEC could make life awful for the west. If they said we are cutting production by 1% prices would rocket and we'd all succomb to an economic depression. They have worked very hard for the west and have put up production to help keep the price down.

If you ever come to the UK and have to fill your car up with fuel, just remember if the total comes to

[Politically Incorrect]

If you were to read my previous post

So you see the Government has no control over the cost of a barrel of crude but they do over the tax. So there is your only logical complaint.

You can plainly see I have no argument about the part the Government plays in taxing.

[dcunning30]

The actual price of a barrel of oil is set by OPEC which could be thought of as politically orientated. It's their decisions which affect the everyday prices of the basic product. http://www.opec.org/home/

The price is not set by OPEC, it's influenced (quite heavily) by opec.

[Woodlouse2002]

[quote]
If you ever come to the UK and have to fill your car up with fuel, just remember if the total comes to

[dcunning30]

[quote]Watch and see.

[Hagar]

Remember that the government is taking a percentage and not a fixed price per litre. Which means as the price of oil goes up and down so does the amount the government get in fuel tax.

It's a little more complicated than that Woody. There are actually two taxes on fuel in the UK. The first is the duty which is a fixed rate per litre. This is currently 47.1p per litre.* As I already tried to explain, 17.5% VAT is then added to the pump price of the fuel + fuel duty. Ths means that we're being taxed on the duty (or paying tax on the tax).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5192424.stm.

*PS. This is for ultra-low sulphur unleaded petrol/diesel.

[BMan1113VR]

Remember that the government is taking a percentage and not a fixed price per litre. Which means as the price of oil goes up and down so does the amount the government get in fuel tax. Personally I don't disagree with the amount of tax on fuel. It makes people go for more fuel efficient cars instead of places where fuel is cheap such as america where it's practically impossible to get a car that does more than 30 to the gallon. (Imports accepted.)

Thats because America tries to base its economy off capitalism. The government is not suppose to influence its citizens' purchases through taxes.

[dcunning30]

Thats because America tries to base its economy off capitalism. The government is not suppose to influence its citizens' purchases through taxes.

Exactly, the original purpose of taxation is to support a nation's infrastructure and public services, not using taxation for the purposes of behavior modification.

[Katahu]

Exactly, the original purpose of taxation is to support a nation's infrastructure and public services, not using taxation for the purposes of behavior modification.

Unfortunately, our taxes seem to be spent on all the rats that populate all of capital hill so that they can make rediculous laws that allow them to avoid taxes or at least get a big tax break. On top of that, most of the rats seem to vote themselves a pay raise since Congress "makes the laws". :-/

[Hagar]

Exactly, the original purpose of taxation is to support a nation's infrastructure and public services, not using taxation for the purposes of behavior modification.

Raisng the tax on beer, fags & petrol on Budget Day has been an easy way to increase revenue for as long as I can remember. It's only in recent times that this has had any moral or environmental significance. I suspect this is really just an excuse & has little real effect. If people need it (or want it) they might moan about it but will find the extra money somehow.

The Government has to find the money somewhere. If it wasn't petrol they would have to increase tax on something else. I have no objections to paying taxes if only they spent it sensibly.