Taxes on Oil

The graph above illustrates the inter-country variations in the price of one litre of oil across G7 countries during 2011. It is important to note that these price variations are not due to differences in underlying crude oil prices (shown in brown) but to the widely varying levels of taxes (shown in red) imposed by major oil consuming nations. These can range from relatively modest levels - like in the USA and Canada - to very high levels in Europe. In the UK, for example, the government in 2011 earned about 59% (about US$ 1.30) of the price charged for every litre of pump fuel sold to consumers. Oil producing countries (including OPEC), meanwhile, earned only around 32% (US$ 0.71) of the total pump fuel price.