Crude oil prices worldwide are increasing, and in Belize, pump prices are at another record high.
At midnight on Friday, the price of premium, regular, diesel and kerosene went up. Premium went up by 10cents, regular by 11cents, diesel by 8cents and kerosene by 15cents.
It's bad news for everyone, except government. That's because GOB's tax take on fuel is percentage-based - so the higher the cost, the greater the tax take. What does it mean at the pump? Well, the combined revenue replacement duty, sales tax and environmental tax add up to $3.59 on premium gas - 47% - almost half of what you pay at the pump. And that's also more than the flat invoice cost. And the real bad news is that it's not looking to get better anytime soon as global instability has forced fuel prices up and OPEC countries have stated that they'll reduce their supply of crude oil.