goverment to blame suprise suprise
Despite these reductions in sulphur emissions, standard diesel fuel is still taxed more heavily than petrol. In 1994, duty on diesel and unleaded petrol (ULP) was the same, however from 1996 through to 1998 diesel was around a penny per litre more expensive. In 1999 it became three pence per litre. At this stage, ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD) was introduced into the market and, by 2000 the majority of diesel being sold changed to ULSD. This carries a lower duty rate than standard diesel, and by 2001 the differential between standard diesel and ULSD was up to six pence per litre. However, since 2003 high oil prices have caused the duty on all fuels to rise drastically. In the last 2½ years alone a tripling in oil price has caused the price of fuels to rocket, and it seems to have been the case that diesel users have suffered more than the rest of us. If this were the whole picture though, then fuel would be as expensive everywhere as it is here in the UK. The fact of the matter is that, even with the hike in oil prices, almost three quarters of the petrol station price for any given fuel is government duty. Considering that Britain’s motorists buy over 30 billion litres of fuel a year, that’s a lot of tax.
