Britain's 'Soul Destroying' Tax

PARIS — After seven diesel fuel tax increases in six years, Britain’s small trucking companies and owner-operators “are just giving up,” said Peter Knight, owner of Les Knight Transport.

“It’s been soul-destroying,” he said. “The people in government who control our destiny don’t know anything about our industry. We get nothing but big bully-boy tactics.”

The British tax on diesel fuel is about $3.30 a gallon, accounting for about 90% of the cost, and more than twice the tax of any other European country. It went up about 33 cents a gallon on March 9 as part of this year’s budget and is expected to generate $1 billion a year. Each of the tax increases since 1993 is the result of a “fuel escalator” policy, which calls for an annual diesel tax increase of 6% above inflation.

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