In case you were thinking I’m off the planet - no just living in the UK. Every time I go to the US and hear the news there’s always someone complaining about the price of gas. We’re paying the equivalent of $7 a gallon - in the age of global warming am I really paying too much?
No, we are paying too little, but that will correct itself in time.
I’ve been to Holland where prices are similar to those in GB.
Traffic is heavy and everyone is in a hurry; just like in the US. The price of gas (petrol) seems to be of little deterrent to reduce auto travel nor does it seem to force more efficient driving habits. People are too short sighted to see the future and that is why they need to have help from the government. I have a small diesel car; saw this day coming a long time ago.
This is a philosophical question. The UK has a far higher tax burden in general (that’s where much of that $7 is going), however the UK also is far more socialistic culturally. We pay less in gas, but we also have millions of U.S. citizens without healthcare, millions that struggle without paid vacations, and millions who will have no retirement at all.
Personally, I think the UK has it right in many aspects.
Our gas prices are right where they should be considering inflation since wage and price controls were lifted after WWII
No, you are not paying too much for gasoline. However, you are paying the UK government far too much in gasoline taxes!
The United States is the ONLY country that can just PRINT the dollars needed to pay for all that imported oil. Everyone else has to pay with dollars they earn by exporting goods to the United States. We get to pay with paper and ink. Everyone else must come up with hard goods…It’s a big shell game that can’t go on much longer…
I think the political comments here are drifting away from the purpose of this Board, which has an unusually high level of civility. Can we please stick to facts (e.g., “tax in UK is $x/gal, but only $y/gal in US”), and can we avoid commenting on whether any of this is good or evil? I’d hate to see a really good, useful Board get destroyed by political flame wars.
Thanks.
let’s dispel this myth folks. Because I don’t feel like typing all the math out again, here’s a post I made on my car forum in a gas price discussion. The numbers have come down a bit since then (not much) but the principle remains:
According to an article on cnn/money, the 75% of the price at the UK gas pump goes to taxes.
75% of $5.79 (the UK’s gas price) is $4.34. $5.79-$4.34=$1.45. Our gas prices are well north of that. Wisconsin gas tax is 39 cents per gallon. The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. That works out to 58 cents per gallon if you round up. $1.45 + $0.58 = $2.03 per gallon. that’s what we should be paying in Wisconsin.
I just paid $3.44 per gallon last night.
We are getting ripped off.
What we don’t pay for gasoline in the U.S.A. we pay for medical insurance and eye glasses. You may be better off. Good place to go on vacation here. A dollar lasts two to three times longer here than a Pound lasts in the U.K. Plus, the exchange rate favors the English when they come here. Time to come to Las Vegas, if only for the buffet. Drive Ca. 101, 134 and 210; all in a straight line. Count the San Bernardino signs going east. Drive Rt. 40 in Arizona right through the petrified forest. or the other blunders of nature nearby, Painted desert, Meteor Crater or Grand Canyon. Count the mesas in New Mexico, also on RT. 40. Have coffee in Seattle.
Tell me the last time when government was actually thinking. We do not need government to tell us what to do how to do it and why. Listen government is not the answer it is the problem. I am not says anarchy is good at all but i am saying limited government is the answer.
And by the way $7 a gallon is way too much. Find out how much of that $7 dollars goes to the government and how much goes to the company. You will be surprised.
The UK, however, is an oil EXPORTER (… as is Canada).
Actually, North Sea oil production has been declining for about a decade and usage is increasing, so their exports are neglible these days. But finding dollars to pay for the petroleum they use is not currently a problem in the UK.
I agree that the price of energy has just about kept pace with inflation, just as the growth in U.S. energy consumption has keeps pace with the GDP. However, energy prices tend to adjust in “spurts” which is what gets everyones attention.
Having said that, the U.S. does use too much energy and energy prices are much too low compared to the rest of the world, that is not a sustainable condition. The current U.S. price levels are not sufficient to generate significant capital investment in new capacity (for any type of energy). Without direct government intervention to limit energy consumption, the only solution is to increase price until consumption is reduced and capacity is increased, economics 101. Personally, I would rather see the excess funds go to the energy industries than the government, but that’s a different argument.
Contact your local Attorney General’s Office. This is “highway robbery” (no pun intended).
Of course in the US; you are getting ripped off. How is it that the price is almost the same no matter what station you go to in a city? We just came back from working in ID and in the 600 trip from CO to WY to ID; the price hardly changed except for WY.
The price was a bit cheaper in WY since the Cheyenne refinery is not down like it was 4 weeks ago (not down as much ?) but you are talking about 3.16 in IF< ID to 295 in Casper to 313 in FT C / Denver.
We look around and spend enough time working in CO / WY that we know what shops are cheapest but this is riduclous!!!