How much fuel tax do you pay

Drivers' group reckons your council tax is less

By PH Staff / Thursday, 28 April 2005 / Loading comments

How much fuel tax are you really paying? According to the Association of British Drivers, it could be more than your council tax.

Taxman in your tank

The ABD has produced an online ready reckoner (link below) to remind voters just how much they are paying in fuel taxes, where drivers can enter their average mileage and MPG of their vehicle to see just how much they are paying per month to the treasury.

The average driver travelling 12,000 miles per year in a car achieving 30mpg will pay around £120 per month in direct fuel taxation. That's bad enough, reckoned the ABD, but many families with two drivers or doing higher than average mileages can easily be paying more in direct fuel taxes than in council tax - sometimes even more than their mortgage payments.

But direct fuel taxes are only half the story, the hidden cost is far higher still, said ABD Chairman Brian Gregory.

"Everything we buy and all services we use involve road travel and the cost of all goods and services are affected greatly by the extortionate rates of fuel duty" said Gregory. "Eighty per cent of the purchase price of all fuel goes to the treasury. Every time a tradesman visits your home, much of what he charges you will be going to the treasury. Every item you buy in a shop, likewise."

ABD spokesman Nigel Humphries said voters should make sure to voice their concerns over extortionate fuel taxes.

"Even those who don't drive are indirectly parting with huge amounts of money through this stealth tax, yet many probably don't realise it" said Humphries. "It's stifling the British economy and pushing pensioners and those on lower incomes into poverty. It would not be so bad but of approximately £42 billion taken by the government in road tax each year, only around £6 billion gets reinvested in our crumbling transport system".

ABD's fuel tax calculator