Petrol Prices

We have seen petrol prices reach a record high this year, with a liter of diesel costing £1.40.

I remember when it used to be 70p a liter - that is now double.

The costs are split (roughly) into the following:

• Tax - 40%
• Petrol - 30%
• Vat - 20%
• Retailer/Deliverer - 10%

The majority of the cost of fuel is tax (roughly 40%) - so the area that the government can help is by reducing the tax.  However the government needs the tax in order to reduce the countries crippling debt - so it is a viscous circle.  The government needs people to spend money in order to collect tax and reduce the national debt.

Who are impacted by this - well, it is mainly companies such as bus companies, haulage companies, taxi companies as opposed to general road users (that are maybe only paying an extra £10 a month overall).

Oil companies are the ones that are benefiting in this process, making billions of pounds in profit; but is this playing it's part.  Are oil companies using offshore accounts in order to reduce their tax bill (and thus saving millions of pounds of tax) and are the government comfortable with this?

Oil companies do a lot of marketing via sponsorships (Formula 1 for example) billboard and other forms of outdoor advertising.  They mainly use the forms of marketing that would involve brand exposure (such as PR, social media advertising). 

The amusing thing, is back in that 2000 when petrol prices reached £1,00 a liter, there were blockades and uproar.  Now we are paying 40% more but there are no blockades and we all seem to be fine with it.