Taxes on Oil

This graph illustrates the inter-country variations in the price of one litre of oil across the G7 countries during 2010. The price variations, however, are not due to differences in crude oil prices but rather to the widely varying levels of oil taxes (shown in red) in those major oil consuming nations. These can range from relatively modest levels - in the USA and Canada - to very high levels in Europe. In the UK, for example, the government earned US $1.15 (or around 65%) from the US $1.78 retail price of a litre of pump fuel in 2010, while oil producing countries (including OPEC) earned only US $0.51 (or around 29%) of this total pump fuel price.