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Michael Eker · #1 Post by **Michael Eker** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:52 pm

I just put 60 litres of diesel in my Merc estate at a services on the M6 motorway in

Lancashire UK.

This cost 60 X £1.339 = £80.34 = 158.424 USD

In California this would have cost ( from http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/index.html )

1 Litre = 0.264172052 US gallons

60 litres = 15.688 US gallons

15.668 X $5.084 = 79.65 USD

Almost exactly half the UK price.

Enjoy your motoring

meker

John Lewenauer · #2 Post by **John Lewenauer** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:57 pm

Michael Eker wrote:
Almost exactly half the UK price.

Enjoy your motoring

meker

How much of that cost is taxes? That's your issue, I believe.

Mike Zois · #3 Post by **Mike Zois** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:17 pm

Taxes in ANY Western country is the major portion of fuel costs....sales tax. Think about it, in CA, the price per gallon goes up, so does the tax....1buck, 6 cents....5bucks 30 cents...not to mention underground storage fees, transportation fees, Federal taxes....it goes up percentage wise every time the price goes up....

Barry Brisco · #4 Post by **Barry Brisco** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:29 pm

This topic is only marginally 356-related, so let's not go on and on about the cost of gas, everyone knows what it is where they live.

FACT CORRECTION: in the USA gas taxes make up only a small part of the total cost of gas, not a "major" portion as Mike stated ("major" as in "more than 50%"). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_tax, quote:

"Fuel taxes in the United States vary by state. For the first quarter of 2008, the average state gasoline tax is 28.6 cents per gallon, plus 18.4 cents per gallon federal tax making the total 47 cents per gallon"

That means that in the USA taxes comprise less than 10% of the cost of a gallon gas, not a "major portion". In other Western countries like the U.K. or Germany gas taxes are much higher.

Any more posts on this topic and it will be moved to the Off Topic Forum.

Barry Brisco

Mike Zois wrote:Taxes in ANY Western country is the major portion of fuel costs....sales tax. Think about it, in CA, the price per gallon goes up, so does the tax....1buck, 6 cents....5bucks 30 cents...not to mention underground storage fees, transportation fees, Federal taxes....it goes up percentage wise every time the price goes up....

Mike Zois · #5 Post by **Mike Zois** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 4:51 pm

Sorry, I still stand behind my statement. There are direct taxes and indirect taxes....direct taxes are what you pay at the pump....there are other hidden taxes/costs before it ever sees the retail gas station.

My original point is on the direct taxes, it's a percentage not linked to volume and it goes up as the price at the pump goes up.

JOEL JENSEN · #6 Post by **JOEL JENSEN** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 5:07 pm

It's true that the tax rate is higher in the EU but then you don't have medical expenses, college tuition or an income if you are unemployed to worry about. There is no free lunch.

Michael Eker · #7 Post by **Michael Eker** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:35 am

Three issues.

Free health care - not true if you don't want to wait years for treatment or die from infection in a filthy state run hospital.

Free higher education - not true this was abandoned years ago in England and most graduates end up starting their careers thousands of pounds in debt.

Unemployment benefit - partially true, most people , including MPs who tried to live to survive on it, cannot exist on the state payout and are means tested for supplementary benefits.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=91342917

Like I said enjoy your motoring.

meker

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