I haven't read the thread, but I'll post my take on it (I will probably be treading on some similar ground):
Since when have taxation been about being fair? If taxation was fair, then wouldn't there be a flat rate on income tax? And no inheritance tax whatsoever?
No, taxation is about raising revenues for the Government which it can then spend on services for the nation. If some things cost the Government more, like the effects of petrol consumption, alcohol and smoking, then, naturally, the Government will want to see more money coming in from them to help pay for the fixings of the problems.
People often complain in the UK, around the time of the budget about the Government raising the taxes on these three goods, but they never realise the following:
- The tax increases are often in line with inflation, so actually, the taxes haven't gone up, they're just being updated to the new price level.
- These taxes are supposed to put you off consumption, that's why they're so high.
- These taxes are not the result of a greedy Government, the amount of revenue that taxation from the big three is £42.5bn (with over half of that coming from fuel - £26.2bn) - that is 8.9% of the Government's total income. Now if we consider the costs that these things bring to the Government, not just the health effects from smoking, but the collection of litter of the cigarette buds, the education and advertisements, the extra police enforcement of an evening when night clubs close, rehab centres, etc. Not to mention that the Government offers huge subsidies to firms developing green technologies that comes from the fuel duty. I'd hardly say that the Gov't profits very much from the duties at all.
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