2 truck drivers die as fuel protests spread across Europe

Wednesday 11th June, 06:39 AM JST

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5 Comments

Madverts at 06:25 PM JST - 11th June

It's amazing to see that not one report actually adresses the real issue - the fat cat governments that have been doping themselves up on 80% or more tax on fuel for years.

Talking about VAT relief, or taxing the profits of oil companies is not the root of the problem.
WilliB at 07:04 PM JST - 11th June

Get used to it. The age of cheap oil is over.

Madverts: So, if you don`t want to tax fuel, what would you prefer to tax? Remember, a tax is an incentive to do less of something.
Madverts at 08:57 PM JST - 11th June

"Get used to it. The age of cheap oil is over."

You're surely American as I have never seen an "age of cheap oil".

European governments have encouraged people to live in the country and use their motor vehicles more. Now people need their cars as an appendage of their bodies and they're getting taxed to death.

Surely this is grounds for outrage?

When you hear President Sarkozy saying the "draws are empty" I want to know why, when were're taxed left right and centre.
WhiteHawk at 05:08 AM JST - 12th June

Madverts:

You're surely American as I have never seen an "age of cheap oil".

Apparently, you're not aware of the fact that America has local, state and federal taxes on each gallon of fuel sold (and it's three times the profits of the "evil" companies that retrieve, refine and supply that fuel), while China, India and Venezuela subsidize fuel costs to their citizens and corporations in order to promote their own economic development.

Has America taxed its fuel as heavily as Europe? No. But is the American government just as addicted to those tax revenues as European governments? You betcha.

WilliB:

Remember, a tax is an incentive to do less of something.

Really? And here I thought that taxes were revenue generated to spend on programs designed to buy votes. Hmmm.
presto345 at 10:33 PM JST - 13th June

It's hard to see energy prices in proper perspective. If we compare prices at the pump today to what they were just before the first oil shock in the early 70s then 170 yen per liter is still a bargain. Remember the price of crude now is about 50 times of what it was in 1971!