The problem in Australia is that we have incompetent politicians, and have had them for decades.The4thEstate wrote: ↑Sat Mar 28, 2020 8:03 pmThat's still more than $4 a gallon though, which would be considered pretty expensive in the U.S.
We were generally paying around $2.30 to $2.50 a gallon before the big price plummet.
We shut down all our oil refineries and even though we have oil fields in Western Australia yet to be
tapped with billions of barrels of oil which could be brought up, no company will bite the bullet
and start mining....
The Government tells us that its not viable for oil companies to bring it up and its not viable for
oil refineries to be refurbished to cope with the increase production.
Instead, the Government allows oil companies to price gouge, and they have been for decades.
The government insists that there is nothing that they can do about it.
We all complain, an inquiry was conducted to no avail, and we continue to get ripped off.
Each litre of petrol which we buy for say $1.50 includes about a dollar in taxes and excise duties.
We have a daily price cycle where everyone is told to buy at the bottom of the cycle..but that cycle
is doctored by individual petrol stations to suit themselves....
Petrol at one station will cost $1.50 a litre and around the corner its $1.70....
We pay GST of 10% on petrol, but after the petrol excise is added..so we pay a tax on a tax...
We are told that our prices are tied to OPEC prices, but the oil companies simply charge
what they feel like anyway...price movement up is always quick and slow to go down...
We are ripped off left right and centre in Australia....nothing changes.....petrol is just one example....
I will stand corrected if anything Ive hurriedly typed is incorrect....