Is the cost of fuel dampening your Christmas?
A nationwide protest is set to take place at various locations nationwide this coming Wednesday, December 12th. Though the locations and times of the protests are yet unknown, TransAction 2007 (organisers of the protest), state they will take place at the same time and will be completely legal.
The protest, in response to the Government's high fuel taxation and implementation of a 2p duty increase, has rapidly gathered interest from the UK public. In an effort to bring further attention to the protest, a blog post by petrolprices.com this morning was published approximately 12 hours ago and has already received nearly 1000 comments and 5000 votes. 97% of voters agree that the Government should have acted before these protests.
On the official Transaction 2007 website, the announcement regarding the proposed protest reads:
"TransAction 2007" makes you aware, that a nationwide legal protest against high fuel taxation will take place at various locations. These will be made available as will the date and time during the coming days. Protest action will take place on the same date and at the same time.
Person(s) participating in the demonstration do so on their own initiative. You will be advised of a "meeting area". If you have not already registered on the "TransAction 2007" forum section of the website, now is the time to support this LEGAL demonstration.
"TransAction 2007" would emphasis, you should comply with police instructions. Any person seen acting outside of police instruction will be reported and asked to be removed from the protest area. Further information will be released here as we receive it.
Your attention should be focused on Wednesday 12th December 2007. "TransAction 2007" would like to thank everyone for their support in this campaign. We act as individuals but stand as one.
In finishing, "TransAction 2007" respectfully request that both HM Treasury and the Directors of the Road Haulage Association, urgently meet and enter into sincere and constructive dialogue to achieve an amicable solution to resolve this long standing issue over fuel duty that would be acceptable to all parties concerned. Negotiation should be the way forward!
VAT on petrol as we know is charged at 17.5% and for every 1p increase in the price of fuel, we end up paying an extra 0.175p in tax. However, is the price we pay for fuel anything other than expected? HEXUS staff member Andrej Bania points out "If the world comes up with a strategy to reduce dependence on middle eastern oil by a further 20% - then you can expect oil prices to increase by 20%. Simple economics really. The guys in the middle east are sitting on a gold mine that is being rapidly depleted and has no chance of being replenished. When it is gone - all they have is sand and no water."
The protests at hand however are focused on the Government and its taxation methods on fuel. With the BBC recently reporting that almost two million speeding tickets are being issued on an annual basis, charged at £60 a piece, one would have thought that the Government has a working solution at an alternative method of drawing money from its general population.
How do you feel about TransAction 2007's planned protest? Will you be making a stand or would you rather avoid any said disruptions this close to Christmas? Leave your thoughts in the HEXUS forums.
Useful links
TransAction 2007: Official Website
PetrolPrices.com: Petrol price protests planned for this Wednesday
