We recognise that the current Labour Government, and indeed Conservative ones before that, have not spent tax levied from motorists and hauliers on improving roads or indeed public transport. This needs to change. Until ALL tax levied from motorists and hauliers is spent on improving public transport - train, bus, coach services and cycle routes - the British people and UK companies will not reduce their use of cars or lorries as a way of moving themselves or goods around as there is often no viable public transport alternative. We will campaign for ALL car tax and fuel duty to be invested in the nation's transport system. For more information please contact info@cuttaxonpetrol.co.uk
The price of filling the average family car's 50-litre tank of petrol is now (April 2008) £10 more than this time last year when a litre of petrol cost 87.5p. Petrol in the USA is around £1.50 per gallon (and THEY complain about it!) while ours costs more than three times as much. As we are both oil producing nations, we believe the extremely high levy on petrol and diesel in the UK is unjustified and grossly unfair.
Our aims...
The principal aim of the party is to campaign for the abolition of VAT on fuel as this is effectively a tax on a tax. The Government currently adds VAT on to the fuel tax they have already added to the fuel. Is that fair?
Secondly we want the total fuel duty on petrol and diesel to be cut by half. Oil companies currently charge around 35p for one litre of fuel, the Government currently adds a total tax levy of nearly 200 per cent - that is why petrol now costs £1.11 per litre and diesel is £1.21.
The Government blames global oil prices for the current price of petrol and diesel, but the fact is they could reduce this financial burden if they had the political will because the high prices we are now experiencing are totally artificial - caused by a tax on a tax. If our aims were achieved today petrol would cost less than 70p a litre. At the moment low income families can't afford to run their cars, British hauliers are going out of business and laying off workers and all businesses that rely on road transport - taxi drivers, delivery firms, builders, shift workers, sales companies the list goes on and on - are suffering. It all adds up to higher costs on essentials such as food. It has got to stop.
Less stick and more carrot. Cut Tax On Petrol And Diesel aims to spend the billions of revenue from motorists and hauliers on public transport to increase and improve train and bus services and subsidise the cost of fares. This will encourage motorists to use their cars less. The Labour Party doesn't want us to get out of our cars - they WANT and NEED the tax we pay on fuel to pay for the expensive policies we don't want such as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (£3.3billion per year), the introduction of identity cards (£10billion) and the renewal of the Trident nuclear missile system (£30billion). We don't want to take money away from our schools and hospitals but we do want to curb Labour's wasteful spending, borrowing, taxation and layer upon layer of bureaucracy - and perhaps the UK and everyone in it will be better off.
RIP OFF BRITAIN
Duty per litre of diesel
Britain 57p plus VAT
Germany 37p
France 34p
Italy 34p
The Netherlands 29p
Portugal 29p
Ireland 29p
Spain 24p
Poland 23p
Greece 22p
The average Briton pays almost £900 in petrol taxes annually.