CUT TAX ON PETROL AND DIESEL

THE AIMS OF CUT TAX ON PETROL AND DIESEL:

UK fuel duty for petrol and diesel is the highest in Europe. Indeed UK diesel duty is double the EU average rate. We are calling for the tax on petrol and diesel in the UK to be cut by at least 50%.

The price of filling the average family car’s 50-litre tank of petrol is now (May 2008) £10 more than this time last year when a litre of petrol cost 87.5p. Petrol in the USA costs about £1.50 a gallon (and the Americans complain about it!)  while ours costs 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. 

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 adds VAT to the price of fuel AND the fuel tax they have already slapped on. Oil companies currently charge around 35p for one litre of fuel, but the Government adds a tax of nearly 200 per cent - that is why petrol now costs £1.11 per litre and diesel per litre is £1.21.

The Government blames global oil prices for the current price of petrol and diesel, but the fact is they could seriously reduce this financial burden if they had the political will. 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 to get to work and British hauliers are going out of business and laying off workers because they can't compete with continental rivals. It all adds up to higher costs on essentials such as food. It has got to stop.
 
How can Cut Tax On Petrol And Diesel be considered green?
We want less stick and more carrot. We aim to spend billions more of the revenue from motorists 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 – the Government NEEDS the tax we pay on fuel to pay for their expensive policies such as the introduction of identity cards (£10billion), the £12billion wasted on the infamous NHS computer system that never worked and the planned replacement of Trident (£30billion). By the year 2020 it is predicted that Labour's policy of increasing tax on fuel every year will only reduce the number of cars on our roads by 1% . A different approach is needed.
 
We recognise that the current Labour Government, and indeed Conservative ones before that, have steadily increased the taxation on motorists and hauliers but the amount spent on improving roads and public transport has shrunk. This needs to change. Until the lion’s share of tax levied from fuel is spent on improving public transport, 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 their is often no viable public transport alternative.
 
How could the Government afford such a cut in tax revenue?
We get asked this a lot but we think it is the wrong question. What should be asked is: how can low-income families, OAPs, hauliers and other businesses that rely on road transport afford such a high level of taxation?
We don’t want to take money away from schools and hospitals, but we do not want to stop Labour’s excessive taxing, borrowing and spending policy. Giving Labour LESS money to spend will actually make us all better off.