Fuel tax

A fuel tax (also known as a petrol, gasoline or gas tax, or as a fuel duty) is an excise tax imposed on the sale of fuel. In most countries the fuel tax is imposed on fuels which are intended for transportation. Fuels used to power agricultural vehicles, and/or home heating oil which is similar to diesel are taxed at a different, usually lower rate. The fuel tax receipts are often dedicated or hypothecated to transportation projects so that the fuel tax is considered by many a user fee. In other countries, the fuel tax is a source of general revenue. Sometimes, the fuel tax is used as an ecotax, to promote ecological sustainability. Fuel taxes are often considered regressive taxes.

Taxes on transportation fuels have been advocated as a way to reduce pollution and the possibility of global warming and conserve energy. Placing higher taxes on fossil fuels makes petrol just as expensive as other fuels such as natural gas, biodiesel or electric batteries, at a cost to the consumer in the form of inflation as transportation costs rise to transport goods all over the country.

Proponents advocate that automobiles should pay for the roads they use and argue that the user tax should not be applied to mass transit projects.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Energy Agency, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank have called on governments to increase gasoline tax rates in order to combat the social and environmental costs of gasoline consumption.

International pump prices for diesel and gasoline for November 2010 are available at http://web.archive.org/web/20110315151539/http://www.gtz.de:80/en/themen/29957.htm . Price history from surveys taken in November of even number years are also available. Price differences mostly reflect differences in tax policy.

A Nature study has shown that while gasoline taxes have increased in more countries than they have decreased in during the period 2003-2015, the global mean gasoline tax has decreased due to greater consumption in the low tax countries.

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