Motorists hit AGAIN as Government tax grab adds a record 15p a litre to the price of

[Scary]

On all the things you don't want/need to buy...

And wages/rates.

[BrilloPad]

Good old daily wail tub thumping again!

Doesnt bother me none as it will keep a lot of people off the road.

The thing is that people will economize on food before petrol.

[Diver]

I only get 40p a mile for going to work, so I will just have to put in for a raise

[NickFitz]

The figures given in the story don't add up to 15p.

The PRA - part of the Retail Motor Industry Federation - said in its report that Government tax rises would account for the lion's share of the rises through the following measures:

• The Chancellor announced in his pre budget report on December 9 2009 that VAT will be increased back to its original rate of 17.5 per cent on January 1, 2010: 'This rise will equate to an increase of approximately 2.5p per litre at current fuel prices.'
• On April 1, 2010, the Government is committed to increase fuel duty in line with inflation along with a 1p per litre rise: 'If we assume zero inflation on April 1, there will therefore be an increase of 1p per litre.'
• On April 1, 2010, the Government is also withdrawing its duty incentive to refiners for the production of biofuel:'The resulting duty increase will therefore be passed on to consumers in the form of a 1p per litre rise at the pumps.'

Note that this gives an estimated total increase of 4.5p/litre by April 2010.

The PRA report adds: 'Any new Government will need to raise taxation and the prospect of VAT increasing to 20 per cent has already been mooted by the City. This alone would add a further 2.5p per litre to the price of fuel.

'There is also the possibility of a snap budget post election which could lead to a fuel duty hike of 2p per litre in the autumn.'

Further note that these figures are pure speculation based on what might be done by the new Government. Oh, and these figures also add up to 4.5p/litre.

So far we have 4.5p/litre that we can be reasonably sure of, and 4.5p/litre that is based solely on speculation; even so, this gives a total of 9p/litre by their own figures.

'With all of these duty and VAT factors considered, this will equate to a 5p per litre increase in fuel prices by the beginning of April 2010 with the possibility of up to a 10p per litre rise solely from UK taxation by the fourth quarter of 2010.'

So they round up the 0.5p on each part and assume that each set of figures sums to 5p/litre. This leads them to assert that there will be an increase of 5p/litre by April 2010, and (if their speculations are proved correct) a further increase of 5p/litre after that, leading to a total of 10p/litre by the fourth quarter of 2010.

The Mail journalist has failed to grasp that the 10p/litre figure already includes the preceding 5p/litre and has instead added the two together to get the headline figure of 15p/litre.

Also worthy of note: the headline refers to "Government", creating the impression that the mythical 15p/litre has been imposed by the current administration. However the report they quote is stating that half of the (10p/litre) increase will be imposed by the new Government - in other words, even if the Tories win, it is assumed that they will impose the same increases.

So the story combines inaccurate reporting with misrepresentation for the sake of manipulating opinion in a way that is totally distinct from reporting of news.

This is why the Daily Mail should not be seen as a newspaper. Everything it says should be treated with a healthy degree of scepticism and subjected to close examination to determine what is fact, and what the fact actually is as opposed to what it is represented to be: in this case, the fact is that a report has been published, not that fuel duty has increased.

[Diver]

The figures given in the story don't add up to 15p.

I can't believe you actually waded through that carp Fitzy, You need to get a life mate. Come to the party with me and the missus and I'll get you drunk and arrested by midnight

[NickFitz]

I can't believe you actually waded through that carp Fitzy, You need to get a life mate. Come to the party with me and the missus and I'll get you drunk and arrested by midnight

I'm doing a public service: if just one of the lost souls on here who believes what they read in the Fail can be made to see that it's all lies, distortions and propaganda, I will feel that my time on Earth has not been in vain

[Diver]

I'm doing a public service: if just one of the lost souls on here who believes what they read in the Fail can be made to see that it's all lies, distortions and propaganda, I will feel that my time on Earth has not been in vain

Trust me, all of our lives are in vain