Gasoline taxes in the U.S. represent only 24.1 percent of the pump price. The protests, most severe in the U.K., have not resulted in any government action except in France. In recent years, some European governments have been aggressively raising gasoline taxes. They have purposely raised gasoline prices in an effort to discourage driving and improve the environment. The group most affected by these actions has been truckers.
Trucks are a very important to the European economy.
In 1997, approximately 73 percent of freight was shipped by truck, compared with 14.5 percent by rail. But the trucking industry in Europe is composed of many small operators and this makes it difficult for the truckers to pass their higher costs on to their customers. Gasoline taxes are generally value-added taxes, that is, the tax is a certain percent of the retail price of the product. Consequently, as oil prices have risen, so have the gasoline taxes. The increase in gasoline taxes, as well as an economic recovery, has caused government revenues to swell, generating, in some cases, budget surpluses.