§ Mr. WhittingdaleTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will list the proportion of the retail price of petroleum taken by tax in each member state of the European Union, the United States of America and Canada; [76571]
(2) if he will list the average retail price of petroleum in each OECD country, taking account of his Budget measures. [76570]
§ Mr. BattleI have been asked to reply.
Unleaded petrol prices in mid-December 1998 and the percentage of taxes in the price are as follows:
Average price (pence per litre) Total Of which taxes Percentage of tax United Kingdom 63.9 53.5 83.7 Austria 54.7 38.2 69.9 Belgium 58.5 45.7 78.2 Denmark 56.3 43 0 76.4 Finland 61 0 50.3 82.5 France 62.7 52.1 83.1 Germany 55.4 42.8 77.3 Greece 41.1 28.3 68.8 Ireland 51.3 35.5 69.1 Italy 62 0 47.4 76.4 Luxembourg 42.6 28.9 67.9 Netherlands 64.3 49.9 77.6 Portugal 54.9 40.8 74.4 Spain 44.1 31.7 71.8 Sweden 58.5 44.7 76.4 Canada1 20.4 11 0 53.8 USA1 19.1 6 0 31.5 1Q4 1998 Note:
The Duty on UK premium unleaded petrol was increased by 3.22 p/litre in the Budget of 9 March 1999, taking the average price to around 66.4 p/litre, and the total tax component to 86 per cent.