57% of what you pay at the pump is tax. Including tax on the tax. Enter your postcode to see what that means for your area.
Fuel duty is 52.95p per litre. Then the government charges 20% VAT on top of that — adding another 10.59p per litre of pure tax-on-tax. That means — of the pump price is the government charging you VAT on its own tax. No other product works like this.
From 1 September 2026, fuel duty rises by 1p. Then 2p more in December. Then 2p more in March 2027. By spring 2027 you'll pay 57.95p duty + 11.59p VAT-on-duty = 69.54p in tax per litre — before the fuel itself costs a penny.
The UK's road network, fuel infrastructure and congestion planning is built for 58.6 million people — the ONS official count. But water companies plan for 62.3 million. The GP register shows 63.7 million. That's potentially 5 million extra drivers on roads not built for them.
DfT data shows the average UK driver spends 115 hours per year in congestion. An idling engine burns roughly 1.5 litres/hour. That's 172 litres wasted sitting in traffic — at today's prices, — per year in fuel you burned going nowhere.
Fuel prices: National average pump prices from BEIS/DESNZ Weekly Road Fuel Prices, published every Monday. Updated 30 March 2026. Regional variation is not captured in this dataset — prices shown are UK national averages.
Tax breakdown: Fuel duty rate from HMRC (52.95p/litre from 23 March 2022, extended to 31 Aug 2026). VAT at 20% applied to duty + base fuel cost. The "VAT on duty" figure (10.59p) is the portion of VAT attributable to the duty component.
Earnings: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) 2024, median gross annual pay by local authority. Hourly rate derived as annual ÷ 52 ÷ 37.5 (standard working week).
Council tax: DLUHC council tax levels 2026-27, Band D. For single-tier authorities (UA, LB, MD) this is the full amount. For shire districts, only the district precept is shown — actual total will be higher once county and police precepts are added.
Annual fuel tax: Based on user-input weekly mileage, average fuel consumption of 36.7 mpg (BEIS transport energy data), and current duty + VAT rates.
Congestion cost: DfT National Travel Survey average congestion hours. Idle fuel consumption from RAC Foundation. Applied to current pump price.
Ghost population: GBTT Ghost Population research — WRMP24, GP register, ONS mid-year estimates. See gbtt-2026.netlify.app for full methodology.