Welcome to this Forum. It has been set up so that supporters of the Lower Fuel Tax campaign can discuss the ridiculous levels on Fuel tax in this country.
Where were the Fuel Tax Protests in the Tory years of the Fuel Duty escalator? How is it you are suddenly so concerned about Fuel Tax under a Labour government but did sod all when your darling Tories were raising Fuel Tax year on year. You are all hypocrites!
In Jan 96 we had the cheapest petrol in Western Europe,
on par with Luxembourg.
Now we pay 26p p/litre more then Lux. or Spain,
and 12p more then France and Germany.
Clear enough ?
I am not a Tory. But if I was, there would be no need for disguise, it is perfectly legitimate to hold whatever views anyone likes. We are democracy.
Well at least so far.....
Regards,
Martin
So when the Tories announced their idea (note please THEIR idea!) of the Fuel Duty escalator you had plenty of time to organise a campaign against it - out of interest why didn't you?
The current government were elected in 1997. You are all being manipulated by the Tories who see the Fuel Tax protests as their only hope of election - even though they are hypocrites and raised the tax above the level of inflation year-on-year when they were in power. When Labour were elected, rightly or wrongly they chose to stick to the Tory budget so the tax would have gone up if the Tories had been re-elected anyway.
The tories introduced the "3% in real terms" fuel duty escalator.
notLabour replaced it with the "6% in real terms" fuel duty escalator.
They didn't scrap the tories "3% in real terms" fuel duty escalator as they and their supporters keep claiming.
Our petrol went from the cheapest in europe to the most expensive.
They scrapped their own "6% in real terms" fuel duty escalator, but not because of that.
They scrapped it only because it put a limit on the increase they could make. And that's when the sh*t hit the fan.
And no, I'm not a Tory.
And I started getting p*ss*d off about fuel duties when I got back from a job in the channel islands and the level of fuel duty hit me. And that was back at the start of the 80's.
But yes, I only joined the protests when the government, whichever it was, really started taking the mickey with stealth taxes. And I don't really care who started the protests, or who's behind them. What I care about is who is trying to rip me off at the moment. Or are you suggesting we should have been picketing tory hq for the last couple of years in an attempt to get them to reduce the stealth taxes?
I thought the Fuel Tax protest was against the whole principle of tax on fuel not just the level at which it was levied. So you admit you thought it was OK to levy tax on fuel under the Tories but not under Labour! So if (God help us) William Hague got elected his 6p a litre cut would make you all happy and you'd all disappear back into the woodwork leaving the rest of us to face the prospect of higher mortgages and the unlucky ones unemployment and homelessness. Cheers mate!
"I thought the Fuel Tax protest was against the whole principle of tax on fuel not just the level at which it was levied."
Wrong!! If you'd been watching from the start you'd realise that this is a protest about the level of the tax on fuel. I don't object to paying tax on something I use, but at the rate of 75%??. No thank you!
"So you admit you thought it was OK to levy tax on fuel under the Tories but not under Labour! So if (God help us) William Hague got elected his 6p a litre cut would make you all happy and you'd all disappear back into the woodwork leaving the rest of us to face the prospect of higher mortgages and the unlucky ones unemployment and homelessness. Cheers mate!"
Wrong again! I didn't like watching the cost of fuel steadily increase under the Tories anymore than I do under New Tories!. I don't know about you but I remember paying high interest rates on my mortgage and would not want to suffer that again, but is asking for some sort of relief on my motoring expenses unreasonable? I have no option but to use my car to get to work, shops etc. I do not have the luxury of a company car, public transport that is accesible etc etc. I pay for everything I have. And I work hard to be able to do so. And I'm taxed at every turn. So am I being selfish?. You may think so.
You're free to express that opinion, unlike the future where you will be arrested for having anti-government thoughts or wished to express them in the form of peaceful demonstration!!!!
to decide if you want a Tory government or a Labour government. Neither may be perfect but personally I'd prefer anything to having the cold, unfeeling, uncaring, I'm alright Jack so sod the rest of you, Tories back in power.
Just think Wee a few months ago you were shouting at the protesters to get out and do some direct action. You wanted the protesters to go back to the refineries!!
As for saying that they are all Tories they aren't, they are a cross section of people who support all the parties. I mean you yourself, you do not support the Tories yet you still wanted direct action!! If they Tories ( big if ) get in and the price doesn't fall the protestors will do the same thing again.
Your cause would have looked less like a Tory sympathy group if you'd all complained so loudly when the Fuel Duty escalator was first introduced and maybe got more support, but your lack of concern then seems rather suspicious. I'd love to save money on my fuel costs, as I would on every other bill I pay, but faced with the choice of high fuel duty or a Tory government I'll take high fuel duty every time!
