Association of British Drivers.

[68904]

The link below is full of interesting articles from the above Association, which may be of interest to this forum.

 

 

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[HSBCrusher]

thank you 68904, some good information there.

[crem]

thank you 68904, some good information there.

 

Seconded. Good and extensive though so I guess I'll just have to keep going back to it, as I can't possibly read it all tonight.

[Steve__M]

If you don't like Jeremy Clarkson's Top Gear persona, you won't like the ABD , it should really be called the Association for Intolerant Drivers. That's my one and only comment on this thread as the last time I commented on the ABD I got loads of abuse (which kind of proved my point).

[patdavies]

Their petition to abolish VAT on road fuel is a dead duck before it even starts.

 

Even if the government were minded to do so, EU regulation prevents it.

[Fair-Parking]

The ABD? They have never responded to any emails or press releases that we have sent to them.

 

In such circumstances, its difficult to understand just what they stand for.

[crem]

Their petition to abolish VAT on road fuel is a dead duck before it even starts.

 

Even if the government were minded to do so, EU regulation prevents it.

 

 

I am sure within the EU rules they could apply the VAT to the cost of the fuel and THEN add the fuel taxes rather than the other way round. i.e. I believe the ABD are highlighting the point that we pay VAT on TAX because they add the 50p or so FUEL TAX then VAT the result so we are paying tax on tax.

[patdavies]

Sorry Crem, no.

 

The flaw in your argument is the continued use of the words "Fuel Tax" - there is no such thing; it is "Fuel Excise Duty".

 

There is a general principle that VAT is payable on the excise duty for an item as well as the item itself.

 

A litre of unleaded fuel is treated in exactly the same way as a litre of whisky in this respect.

 

Also, even if the Treasury did move the excise duty outside the scope of VAT, they would need to maintain their income stream. It is therefore likely if taking excise duty out of VAT would lower the price by (for example) 8p, then the rate of excise duty is likely to be increased by 8p at the same time.

 

In this way, they would have complied with what you wanted them to do, but the cost of a litre of unleaded would be unchanged.

 

A better target might be the oil industry itself. The supposed linkage between the price of a barrel of oil and the price of a litre on unleaded is said to be that for every $2 reduction in the price per barrel, there should be a corresponding 1p reduction in the retail price of a litre of unleaded.

 

Oil peaked at $147/bbl but has now dropped to $88/bbl.

 

So a drop of $60 should have led to a retail price drop of 30p from the high of £1.22. IOW, the current price should be 92p/litre, not £1.05/litre.

 

Even if you allow for the movement in $/£ exchange rates, the price of crude has dropped by at least one third from its peak price.