The power of the %, here's my 28c

Napalm2880

Napalm2880

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As I read articles such as http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Petrol-price-to-rise-steeply-again-20120425 and read that the petrol price is going up yet again, I have to think..

1.) Government are not getting a fixed sum from what the public pay for fuel. They are getting a percentage of the fuel price.
2.) Food prices and in fact almost all goods we consume in this country in this country are very much linked to the cost of petrol/diesel, therefore the cost of these goods is definitely soon to follow the fuel price.

So as I understand it, when the fuel price goes up, the government becomes astronomically richer from VAT (14%) over and above all the fuel levies/taxes on the fuel itself.

thoughts?
 
Yip - we all get screwed a little harder when everything goes up, and the gov't just smiles. They're pimps and were all their biiiatches!
 
Napalm2880 said:
As I read articles such as http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Petrol-price-to-rise-steeply-again-20120425 and read that the petrol price is going up yet again, I have to think..

1.) Government are not getting a fixed sum from what the public pay for fuel. They are getting a percentage of the fuel price.
2.) Food prices and in fact almost all goods we consume in this country in this country are very much linked to the cost of petrol/diesel, therefore the cost of these goods is definitely soon to follow the fuel price.

So as I understand it, when the fuel price goes up, the government becomes astronomically richer from VAT (14%) over and above all the fuel levies/taxes on the fuel itself.

thoughts?
Click to expand...
I heard the various government levies on fuel are fixed and there's no VAT on fuel.
 
R13... said:
I heard the various government levies on fuel are fixed and there's not VAT on fuel (I think).
Click to expand...

Not directly, but the price of everything else goes up, meaning the amount of VAT on food etc. goes up as well.
 
Napalm2880 said:
So as I understand it, when the fuel price goes up, the government becomes astronomically richer from VAT (14%) over and above all the fuel levies/taxes on the fuel itself.
Click to expand...
If people continue to buy the same quantity of goods.
 
lol, guess you can blame lack of support re crime on the same.
 
Napalm2880 said:
So as I understand it, when the fuel price goes up, the government becomes astronomically richer from VAT (14%) over and above all the fuel levies/taxes on the fuel itself.

thoughts?
Click to expand...

This is from an article dated 2001 , (all i could find :o) but it gives an idea of what road users pay in different ways.

WHAT DO ROAD USERS PAY?
Road users pay a variety of taxes and levies to the state, which can be summarised as follows:
Fuel tax, plus customs and excise levy on fuel, as well as a contribution to the Road Accident Fund
VAT on vehicle sales
VAT on vehicle part sales/car repair services
Import duties on vehicles/parts
Licence fees
Fines
Toll fees
Click to expand...

Am also unsure of these percentages WRT todays
Basic price…………….(54.4%)
Fuel tax…………………. (24,6%)
Retail margin…………. ( 7,3%)
Wholesale margin….. ( 4,9%)
Transport cost………… ( 0,1%)
Delivery cost…………… ( 1,4%)
State levy……………….. ( 2,2%)
Road Accident Fund.. ( 4,0%)
Customs & Excise…….. ( 1,1%)
Total……………………..(100,0%)
Click to expand...
http://www.rra.co.za/?p=15386

So as you can see road users are government cash cows.
 
bit more recent.
http://www.shell.com/home/content/zaf/products_services/on_the_road/fuels/petrolprice/

petrol_price.jpg
 
Napalm2880 said:
So as I understand it, when the fuel price goes up, the government becomes astronomically richer from VAT (14%) over and above all the fuel levies/taxes on the fuel itself.

thoughts?
Click to expand...

The government may get more tax revenue because fuel prices increase but that doesn't make them richer. They also have to deal with inflation, just like us. So whatever extra money they get, the purchasing value of it might be eroded by the increase in inflation.

Fuel is heavily taxed all over the world, by not taxing fuel at all the government receives significantly less revenue meaning less spending on their part on education, roads etc.
There's nothing we can do about oil prices rising except buying more fuel efficient cars. We can blame government all day but its all oil speculation, how our rand is doing, and most importantly, demand and supply.
 
gregmcc said:
Yip - we all get screwed a little harder when everything goes up, and the gov't just smiles. They're pimps and were all their biiiatches!
Click to expand...

Before we lose our minds we should consider the global picture. If we compare S.A to other major developing economies only China has slightly cheaper fuel. Russia, Brazil are far more expensive and India is around the same as us. I don't know if that takes current fuel increases here into account or if fuel prices increased or decreased in those countries too. It seems only major fuel producing countries are cheaper than S.A with a few exceptions. I think the majority of Indians, Chinese and Brazilians earn far less than the average South African and are also less likely to have a car.

http://www.k****ij.com/research/petrol.shtml

(Lol, awkward: Replace the 4 * with a four letter word for feces/p00p. )

I know food in S.A is certainly more expensive than India and China though. Which seems strange given our far smaller population density. We should however consider your average Chinese or Indian farmer is considered wealthy if he has a water buffalo. All things considered though the government does screw us in my opinion especially regarding things like sin tax etc. But we can't blame fuel inflation purely on government. Diets change and differ, populations grow and we have 14% arable land. Just a little devils advocate and something to consider.
 
Last edited:
boramk said:
The government may get more tax revenue because fuel prices increase but that doesn't make them richer. They also have to deal with inflation, just like us. So whatever extra money they get, the purchasing value of it might be eroded by the increase in inflation.

Fuel is heavily taxed all over the world, by not taxing fuel at all the government receives significantly less revenue meaning less spending on their part on education, roads etc.
There's nothing we can do about oil prices rising except buying more fuel efficient cars. We can blame government all day but its all oil speculation, how our rand is doing, and most importantly, demand and supply.
Click to expand...

Interesting take. Depends on how much you read into it but for what it's worth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index

South Africa 5th cheapest.
 
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