EU governments take fuel action

[AtW]

EU governments take fuel action

Governments across Europe are taking action to curb fuel costs amid sporadic protests about rising petrol prices.

France is to offer fuel tax rebates to farmers while President Jacques Chirac has called on petrol retailers to make meaningful cuts to pump prices.

Retailers have cut prices in Austria after the government threatened a one-off tax on their profits.

Belgium, Poland and Hungary have also announced measures to cushion the impact of rising prices on consumers.

EU countries have come under pressure to control fuel costs amid a clamour for action from hauliers, farmers and motoring groups.

The French government announced a package of measures on Tuesday designed to ease the situation for farmers.

They will be offered tax breaks and refunds on fuel worth about 30m euros ($36.6m; £20.2m).

"The rise in fuel prices penalises farms, which cannot always pass the cost on," Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told a meeting of farmers in Rennes.

"We must help them."

Similar financial assistance was announced for hauliers on Monday.

Farmers unions have said that they would study any government proposals before deciding whether to step up direct action.

French President Jacques Chirac urged ministers on Tuesday to put pressure on petrol retailers to cut pump prices further.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel
Austrian Chancellor Schuessel said fuel prices were far too high

BP and Total announced price cuts last week but consumer and motoring groups said they have not gone far enough.

A spokesman for President Chirac said that he had asked finance minister Thierry Breton to urge "companies to commit themselves rapidly and wholeheartedly to invest in non-polluting energy and step up the pace of price cuts at the pump".

Tax threat

Petrol prices are to come down in Austria with BP and Austrian retailer OEMV announcing cuts of 3 cents and 2 cents per litre respectively.

Vienna had threatened to impose a windfall tax on the profits of leading petrol companies although the firms concerned said their decision was unconnected to the proposed measure.

A BP spokesman in Austria said it had been able to cut prices because wholesale gasoline prices had fallen.

The Polish and Hungarian governments have pledged to reduce excise and VAT duties on petrol while the Belgian government says it will reimburse VAT payments on home heating fuel.

Speaking at the Frankfurt motor show, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said rising fuel prices were "certainly worrying".

The British government has ruled out any direct action over fuel costs.

Chancellor Gordon Brown ruled out cuts to fuel duties, instead urging Opec members to boost production and invest in new refineries.

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So the cheese eating surrender monkeys who already charge less tax than GBrown would give tax rebates, but HM Govt won't bulge?

I have to say I will be waiting at how situation develops with great interest as my car is fully refulled and that should be enough for at least 2 months

[dazza12]

I have to say I will be waiting at how situation develops with great interest as my car is fully refulled and that should be enough for at least 2 months

Wish I could say the same. Filled up this evening (at a cost of £60 - Christ!), that'll last me til the weekend if I'm lucky.

Lucky that Threaded is out of the country. Not only would it cause him difficulties driving both Lambos at once, but he'd need to remortgage to fill them up.

[AtW]

Lucky that Threaded is out of the country. Not only would it cause him difficulties driving both Lambos at once, but he'd need to remortgage to fill them up.

I hear threaded is running them on the same stuff at that car at the end of the first Back to The Future episode.

Anyhow, I don't think there will be anything major this time, unless protesters knowingly underplayed their threat to catch Govt off guard. IMO would have been right to punish Gordon for his strealth taxes by costing him his job, this would have made an example, but I don't see much appetite for this -- he is clever to act in such a way that he is not a hated person even though he takes far more than Thatchers the Milk Snatcher and whoever got Poll Tax in place.

[Lucifer Box]

I hear threaded is running them on the same stuff at that car at the end of the first Back to The Future episode.

I thought the general opinion was that they were being run on bulltulip?

Anyways, back at the original point, agree with your general thrust, but the UK government already does offer massive fuel subsidies to agricultural users. If they were any more generous we'd be paying them to take the fuel.

[AtW]

Anyways, back at the original point, agree with your general thrust, but the UK government already does offer massive fuel subsidies to agricultural users. If they were any more generous we'd be paying them to take the fuel.

But most of people ain't agrocultural related, who gives a smeg about low price of red diesel if you can't have it? IMO its a load of bollox that motorists subsidise so much -- the amount that goes into roads is like 15% of the amount motorists pay, I don't think there is anybody else taxed so disproportionally apart from probably the very rich.

Public transport is a joke, trains are fking expensive and simply lack capacity, I mean FFS when peak time ticket from Brum to London costs like 90 quid, which is than EasyJet return flights that lasts longer than train runs, then something is seriously wrong.

[n5gooner]

<I hear threaded is running them on the same stuff at that car at the end of the first Back to The Future episode>

The "Home Fusion Generator(tm)"?

no just more bulltulipe

[The Lone Gunman]

the amount that goes into roads is like 15% of the amount motorists pay, I don't think there is anybody else taxed so disproportionally apart from probably the very rich.

Govt. gets 38 Billion income from duty, road fund licence etc from motorists. They spend 7 and I believe that includes on public transport.

It is distinctly unfair that the motorist subsidises all other tax payers in such a way.

[Lucifer Box]

But that's the nature of tax systems. Virtually every taxpayer subsidises (unfairly in their view) some other sort of taxpayer, e.g. smokers subsidising non-smokers, binge drinkers subsidising tee-totallers, etc.

[The Lone Gunman]

But that's the nature of tax systems. Virtually every taxpayer subsidises (unfairly in their view) some other sort of taxpayer, e.g. smokers subsidising non-smokers, binge drinkers subsidising tee-totallers, etc.

I agree to some extent.
Smokers and drinkers dont subsidise non smokers and drinkers they subsidise the NHS
I would not mind the tax on tobbaco and alcohol as long as it is spent funding the extra cost to the health service and nothing more.

It is unfair that any one person pays more than their FAIR share of tax. A driver who also smokes and drinks is paying a disproportionate amount of tax when compared to a tax payer who does none of these things, particularly when compared to the service they get.

The whole system has got out of kilter.

Road tax and fuel duty when introduced were entirely spent on the roads and public transport. Now they are used to fill a a black (or should that be Brown) hole in the economy.

[Lucifer Box]

In my opinion, people who don't own a car, don't smoke and don't drink to excess are pure and simple tax evaders and should be treated as harshly as the law permits.