Treasury loses more than £2.5billion in fuel duty payments due to dramatic drop in car use during lockdown
The Treasury has lost £2.5bn in fuel duty under lockdown
The lockdown has cost the Treasury more than £2.5billion in lost fuel duty payments, figures have revealed.
Motorists pay 57.95p in tax per litre of petrol and diesel they buy, but a dramatic drop in car use in recent months has also hit forecourt sales.
It meant just £4.1billion was collected in fuel duty between March and May, HM Revenue & Customs said, compared with £6.6billion during the same period a year ago.
The figures also showed British motorists went through 3.7bn fewer litres of petrol and diesel in March, April and May than in the same period last year.
Edmund King, president of breakdown firm the AA, said: ‘Even though traffic has increased in recent weeks it is still much lower, particularly in the evenings and weekends, which is also reflected in our breakdown figures.
‘It illustrates just how much central and local government rely on tax, parking charges and fines from car owners to support public finances.’
The AA said its figures showed car trips since March 23, when lockdown was first imposed, plummeted by up to 80 per cent during the early period of restrictions.