In what may well be a confirmation of a prediction I made on this site, Yahoo have ran an article stating that we may soon be paying up to £70 in order to get a full tank of petrol. Worse still, diesel could be up to £1.40 per litre, which isn’t unbelievable when current prices aren’t too far off that mark and a proposed 5p will be added to fuel duty by the government in April.
My question is where and when does it stop? Are prices simply going to rise far in excess of every other commodity (as they seem to do every year)? It was only ten years ago when you could get a litre of petrol for 70p. Now it’s almost double that. Maybe manufacturers were right to stop making cars that were larger capacity. Pretty soon, no-one will be able to afford to drive anything like that.
Perhaps the thing that represents the most bitter pill is how, from certain quarters, we hear that a high fuel price is actually a good thing as it means we use our vehicles less. This, in turn, represents lower CO2 emissions being put out into the atmosphere. However, this is simply an inelegant excuse for the price of fuel we have in the UK, which is far in excess of most of Europe and frankly higher than a lot of the rest of the world.
Ultimately, a lower CO2 count is enviable, but only if it is by choice, not if it is rigidly enforced by painful taxation measures – road tax is already calculated on CO2 emissions anyway. There may well be a point when some do not have the choice to take the car, simply because it is too expensive. I ask you: can you walk to work? Is your local public transport suitable for purpose? If not, best get saving for the petrol/diesel prices that are to come…
I still think if CO2 matters so much that airlines should be held far more accountable.
It costs say £50 to fill up a tank of fuel at the moment, for that price you can often get you to Spain and back. Planes emit huge amounts of CO2, personally I think they should be taxed heavily. I’d rather pay a lot more to fly abroad (something I do maybe twice a year) than pay more to fill up my car (something I do maybe 40 times a year).
Hi James,
I think you make a good argument. However, you highlight why the government will never change the system – because they make too much money as it is!
But couldn’t they make a lot of money from the airlines too, which would make up for making a little less than from car owners?
High fuel prices are here to stay, and we have to accept that. However, businesses won’t be able to sustain it. My employer runs a delivery fleet of 11 trucks, as well as 3 reps cars. Diesel prices have risen 25% in twelve months.
Hi James,
It would not surprise me if we did see a rise in the amount of taxation on airline fares – but fuel tax on petrol/diesel will remain the same or go up!
I would love to see the airlines being charged more. People seem to take cheap flights as a god given right, not realising the vast distances they’re covering at great environmental cost. There should be a distance based tax for each passenger, and that would make people think twice.
However, I wouldn’t trust the government to pass the extra tax on in savings to motorists.
Face it, we are all cash cows that they feel they can milk as much as they want. But when we cannot afford to drive any more where will they get the tax revenue from then?