One thing to keep in mind is that, in the U.S., the average tax on a gallon of gasoline is less than 50 cents.

Whereas, in the U.K. for example, the duty rate on fuel is £2.20 per U.S. gallon. Then there is also a Value Added Tax of 20%.

Basically, someone from the U.K. pays more in taxes alone than people from the U.S. pay for their entire gallon of fuel (including our taxes).



Now, if neither of us had fuel taxes, our cost for a gallon of gasoline would be a lot closer. IIRC, the U.K. would only pay around 30 cents more per gallon on average. Not too bad, considering they've only got ~25 million cars on the road to our ~250 million.

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It's also worth mentioning that, the best selling vehicle in the U.S. is the Ford F-150. A vehicle that struggles to get 20mpg on the highway. Whereas, in Europe, the most popular vehicle is the VW Golf, a little hatchback that easily gets 20mpg in city driving for the least efficient gas engined trim (whereas diesel versions are seeing 30+mpg city). Plus, unlike Europe, throughout much of the U.S. a public transportation system is virtually non-existent.

Basically, as a country, we really aren't in the best of shape to deal with rising fuel prices. Making things even more difficult is our increasingly strict emissions and safety standards that prevent us from getting a lot of the (more fuel efficient) vehicles that are available elsewhere in the world.