4 ms·
Unlikely in Europe given that fuel prices across the continent are roughly the same (if anything the UK is cheaper) Fuel taxes raise £25b a year (there's also
by iso1631 11mo ago
Unlikely in Europe given that fuel prices across the continent are roughly the same (if anything the UK is cheaper)
Fuel taxes raise £25b a year (there's also a "sales tax" on top of that which raises another c. £10b a year)
Car taxes (VED - an annual tax to have your vehicle on the road legally) raise £8b
This revenue goes to the national budget. The national budget spends about £5b a year on maintaining and building major new roads.
Local roads are funded from local property taxes, and the total expenditure on those is under £5b a year.
The government has been trying to wean itself off fuel taxes over the last 20 years -- in 1999 it accounted for 2% of the GDP, it's now down to 1%. As more and more people shift to Electric vehicles the fuel revenue drops. There have been discussions on moving to a per-mile charge, but in any case, drivers subsidise other government funding priorities.
Rail on the other hand is massively subsidised -- on average it's about the same amount of subsidy as the fare revenue. The price charged per mile is far lower for regular long distance commuters (typically those with high wages), occasional use is peanalised. If I go to London at peak time tomorrow, I'll be paying about 90p a mile. If I lived in Brighton and travelled every day I'd pay under 20p/mile. The average rail user pays about 29p/mile (£3.1b and 17b km) and the subsidy is a similar amount.