, you guys get charged 40% to 50% for taxes. In US it's state by state on top of the federal tax. That's why people complain about the price of gas in one area of the country compared to another is meaningless. Where I live there's $.18 fed/ gal, $.08 state/ gal and 5% local, some states have $.32 state/ plus and additional 10-20% on local taxes. I more upset about the taxes then the price of gas...........or $7.69 for a gallon of diesel (0.94 pence per litre diesel - 0.91 for petrol/gas). Tax in the UK is around 66% of the total and it costs me around £45 ($81) to fill my Toyota Avensis diesel (a medium sized estate car which averages around 45mpg) which is £5 more than my first car cost me............
Tax differences of not we are still paying $7.50 plus per gallon here in the UK and even allowing for difference in gallon size we still pay a lot more than you. Fuel tax here is around 65%.
Yes, you're paying more, but you're getting more. Health care is a frequently used example. You get it for free. We pay thousands of dollars per year for health insurance. That's a lot of gas! I was attempting to eliminate such factors so we could do a fair comparison of how much fuel costs in one country vs another.
Not going to argue with you on that one.
Health care is worse than useless in the UK - anyone wanting adequate care pays again for private treatment.
Can't see the logic there..........It doesn't matter about the tax (which isn't optional) - it what we have to pay in total surely
We can all agree we are ALL screwed by our governments!Not going to argue with you on that one.
The choice in the UK is to pay tax on income (between 30% and 50%, depending what you earn, including tax and national insurance) and use the National Health Service for free and put up with waiting 3, 6, 12 or 24 months for your operation appointment or pay tax on income as before, pay extra for private health insurance and get your treatment when you want it.
Removing tax and comparing is pointless! It would be interesting to know how much tax is paid just to own a car in America. In the UK, you pay up to £170 ($300) just to own a car. If you drive into London, you pay an extra £8 ($15) for the congestion charge. Toll roads and bridges cost extra too.
Bah, and I thought my vote counted!We can all agree we are ALL screwed by our governments!Not going to argue with you on that one.
They could look like my driveway - we don't have one! I don't have a car and my bike does as many miles to the gallon as I want so long as I feed myself with Cornflakes every morning
You forget the trend over here is for larger cars. The number of people who turn up to pick their kiddies up from school in Jeeps and Land Rovers is increasing at a shocking rate. At least we don't have as many Hummers on the streets
I have to disagree. It's the only way to compare. Otherwise, it's an apples vs oranges debate. We could do it the other way. We could determine all those things that UK gas tax pays for and add that to the US price per gallon.
It seems a bit off track, but I'll bite. It varies depending on what state you live in and what you drive. I've seen it as allow as $45 and as high as $3200.
In the downtown near where I live, they get you in $200/month parking fees. Most of that goes to the government.
Same here.
Yes, but I thought this was about gas prices, not taxes. The other day, the price per barrel went down, yet the price at the pump went up. I need someone to justify that.
If that's the case, then I guess we can blame you for all of our problems.
In theory, the tax on fuel should pay for the road network. It's never that simple though.
If you have an old car, you can get free vehicle duty. $3200 seems a bit steep - is that for something like a Hummer?
Oh, parking fees are extra on top of the congestion charge. £20/day ($36/day) isn't uncommon in central London. Other cities charge somthing like £10/day. In Canterbury where I live (small city with 40000 people), the charges are 60p/hour ($1/hour).
Agreed, and when I was in the States a couple of years ago, the various tolls seemed higher than they are here. We are lucky in that we only have one toll motorway (around Birmingham), but other places like bridges and tunnels incur a toll.
My vote didn't count at the end of the day as I didn't vote for Blair!
It's illegal to drive and use a mobile phone (not hands-free) here in the UK. Doesn't stop people, though - I saw one today.
I understand why that might annoy you, if you don't understand the big picture. At 95p/liter, that comes to about 339p for a US gallon or $6.61 for a US gallon. Adjust for the difference in taxation by removing the 65% UK tax and adding the $0.34 US tax and you are paying the equivalent of $2.32 for a US gallon. Take into account other things like the higher octane rating of UK gas and you guys are getting a much better deal than we are in the US.It annoys me somewhat to have first heard Amerians complaining that
gas was $2/gallon and now $3/gallon. Welcome to the real world
While a similar argument, one also needs to break down that particular argument to make sure the comparison is also fair. That's for another thread.I could go on and on at price differences between the US and UK -
$1450 for Nikon 70-200mm VR lens in the US or £1499 ($2750) here
When I am eating or drinking (non-alcoholic) in the car I feel that I have control over the situation. When I am using a cellular phone I often feel that I have not payed proper attention to what I am doing. It doesn't matter if I am holding the phone or using hands free. There is scientific data that backs this up. It is not the act of fiddling with the phone, those things are typically done when you have a chance. It is the act of trying to hold a conversation over the phone that is the distraction. No matter ho hard you try, your mind will wander from what you are doing. I'm not saying that the other things can't be equally distracting. I fail to se how anybody can drive even at relatively slow speeds while putting on their eye liner or reading the Washington Post. But I know from experience that talking on a cell phone is a major distraction.I will admit to being anti-SUV somewhat, although I am for freedom
of choice. But I've always thought the SUV craze was just
that--crazy.
But I have no gripe with cellular phone users, and in fact I'll go
so far as to say that those who have a particular gripe against
them are guilty of discrimination analogous to racism. Yes, racism.
Why? Because--what's the difference between someone distracted from
driving talking on a cellular phone vs someone putting makeup on,
or fiddling with their stereo, or eating, or fumbling for Milk Duds
or mints in the glove box, or disciplining their kids in the rear
seat from the front, or running into a utility pole because they
turned their head when they saw a good looking woman, on & on.
The tendency for us to target cellular phone users and not the
other examples is, to be blunt, bigotry. In fact, I have a bumper
sticker on my car that says "My Car, My Phone, My Business--NONE of
your business."
(Then again, to use my logic, I guess I'm an SUV bigot.)
---
LRH
http://www.pbase.com/larrytucaz
If all that money went to road work, you'd each have your own lane.
I think it was a Rolls Royce. Typical fees in my state are about $250.
My parking fees assume a monthly contact. Daily fess are higher (like your £10/day). In addition, I'm taking about the midwest. I shutter to think what the parking fees are like in New York.
