Scotophile 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Every time we put petrol into our cars at a fuel station, the government are fleecing us. And it’s not just the fuel duty and VAT at the petrol pump price. £70 of petrol at 197.9p a litre buys just 35.37 litres - a partial fill for many cars. Of that £70, £18.73 is fuel duty and £11.67 is VAT. That is £30.40, or 43%, taken by the government before the engine starts. That £70 itself was already taxed. To have £70 left after 20% income tax and 8% National Insurance, you first earned roughly £97.22. Another £27.22 was taken at source. On this single fill alone, nearly 60% of the money you worked for has already gone to the government. It does not stop there. Most drivers also pay Vehicle Excise Duty of around £200 a year simply for the right to use the road. On top of that, the average comprehensive car insurance premium is roughly £650, of which 12% Insurance Premium Tax - about £78 - goes straight to the government. Add those annual charges and the government extraction of our money continues to escalate with endless stealth taxes. You earn the money. It is taxed. You spend what remains on fuel. It is taxed again. Then you pay again every year just to keep the car legal and insured…which is taxed. For millions who need a vehicle to reach work, drive children to school or live ordinary lives, this is no longer the cost of petrol or the cost of motoring. It is a stacked system of extortionate tax charges that repeatedly takes from the same earnings. Motorists are not merely paying for fuel. They are being systematically fleeced at every stage by the government. The cost of living crisis is also a cost of excessive government taxation crisis. So @andyburnham - if you really want to help cash strapped motorists during the cost of living crisis, drastically cut fuel duty and VAT on petrol and diesel rather than just giving advice to use google maps to find the cheapest local fuel station.