Fuel tax displayed at the pumps

Displays at five thousand petrol forecourts will highlight the level of tax on fuel. The new campaign hopes to encourage drivers to put pressure on politicians to cut the amount of duty on petrol and diesel. Many are displaying signs showing exactly how much of what we pay goes to the taxman, on a £30 tank, £18 is tax and around £11 goes on costs to pay for the fuel.

Barrie Richards runs a service station in St Blazey. He said “the amount that we get is extremely small. On my price that I'm retailing at today I'm actually earning two and a half pence excluding VAT for unleaded and for diesel. It is necessary that we have a single voice and say to government enough's enough. We've had taxes deferred in 2012 but we need to ensure that these are kicked into touch once and for all."

Matthew Sinclair, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said "fuel duty is an excessive and unfair burden on struggling families, whether they need to get to work, take their kids to school or do the weekly shop. Businesses also struggle with rising costs moving their goods. Too often staff in the forecourts get the flak for high fuel prices which are really the result of exorbitant taxes set by politicians. That is why we produced the new fuel tax stands to show customers how much tax they actually pay when they fill up. By displaying it on their counter, retailers will be able to set people straight when they vent their frustration over high petrol and diesel prices. Fuel Duty should at least be frozen for the rest of this Parliament, and motorists really deserve a cut in excessive taxes.”