Azara Blog: Tories try to bribe motorists with talk of a fuel duty cut

Date published: 2008/07/06

The Conservatives are proposing changes to the way fuel duty is calculated which they say would let government "share the pain" of rising prices.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne told the BBC the party was looking at plans to cut fuel duty when oil prices rise and increase it when prices fall.
If introduced last March, fuel would now be 5p a litre cheaper, he said.
The Treasury told the BBC the proposals were a gamble which could leave a £3bn hole in the public finances.
...
He said the consultation process on a "fair fuel stabiliser" would begin on Sunday and conclude by the end of the year when the party would come up with a fully worked-out proposal. The policy is not yet a firm party pledge.
"What this would mean is that when the price of oil goes up, fuel duty comes down to help families, but the quid pro quo is that when the price of oil falls the duty goes up," said Mr Osborne.
"So government is sharing the pain of rising oil prices, but the government is also sharing the gain when oil prices fall."

Well you could argue this is a sensible proposal, but since the tax on petrol is arbitrary (and, as it happens, extortionate), and this alleged proposal would just change it by an arbitrary amount, it's pretty obvious this is just a cynical ploy by the Tories to try and pretend they are friends of the motorist (and they are not). The silliest claim, however, is that the the "government is sharing the pain of rising oil prices". Unless government salaries or perks are being cut in compensation for the reduced tax intake, the government is sharing no pain whatsoever. And, more generally, unless the tax cut is balanced by either tax rises elsewhere, or spending cuts somewhere, then this proposal is just passing the tax bill onto future generations. When Mr Osborne himself starts to look like he is feeling some economic pain, voters might start to believe what he has to say on this matter.

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