A day in the life of a Middle Manager...

And here comes another Labour tax hike

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The UK Treasury has announced that fuel duty in the UK is to rise by 1.28 pence per litre on 1 October. This was announced in the 2003 Budget but was cynically delayed in implementation so people would forget about it (IMHO). Amazingly, they say this is because the "volatility of oil prices at the time of the Budget has now diminished and oil prices have become more stable."

You could have fooled me!

OPEC yesterday announced that they are reducing their oil output from 1 November. This will undoubtedly lead to a rise in oil prices as demand outstrips supply during the winter months.

The 1.28p will probably get rounded up to 1.5p at the pumps as the petrol companies take the opportunity to raise margins, albeit very slightly.

Given that we currently pay, on average, 75.8p per litre according to PetrolBusters the increase will take the average price to around 77.3p per litre. To put this into perspective for a Canadian audience, imagine paying $1.64 CAD per litre for Gas (current exchange rate is around 2.12 CAD to the UKP). For the Americans reading, imagine paying $4.53 per gallon for Gas (3.78 litres to the gallon, current exchange rate approx 1.55 USD to the UKP).

The tax on petrol in the UK is a MASSIVE 75% (approx)!! How can that possibly be fair?

There's a comparison of UK prices and European prices for petrol on this site. You can clearly see we're just about the most expensive country in Europe for petrol. Pretty amazing for a country which is an oil producer!

Tax Freedom Day fell on 2 June this year. This means that every penny earned for the first 154 days of the year went to the Government. It was only on 3 June that an average UK taxpayer started to earn money for themselves.

I, for one, am getting sick of the massively increased taxes that are paying for Labour's massive nanny state. A nanny state where going on the dole pays more than trying to make your own way by working for just slightly above minimum wage.

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