Americans are furious about gas prices. The British pay double for the same litre

Drivers in Los Angeles are angry. Pump prices there have been climbing for weeks, and people are posting photos of the signs at their local stations. One recent report described drivers as fed up with what they called sky-high gas prices.

Line that price up against four other countries and it stops looking so bad. A litre of petrol in the United Kingdom now costs more than double what it costs in the United States, even though both countries buy fuel off the same global oil market.

We pulled the official October 2026 pump price for the US, the UK, South Africa, Australia and Canada, converted every figure into US dollars on the same day, and checked how much of each price is tax. The result is a gap that has almost nothing to do with oil.

How much does a litre of petrol cost in each country right now?

Here is where five countries stood in the past two weeks, priced in US dollars so they can sit side by side.

*Canada's federal fuel tax is currently paused at zero. The 16% is a Toronto example once provincial tax and sales tax are added back. Some provinces charge more, some less.

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South Africa's R30.25 headline price is a national talking point on its own. Lined up against the others in dollars, it sits in the middle, cheaper than the UK but pricier than Australia or Canada.

Photo: Lewis Clarke / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Why does the same oil cost double once it reaches the pump?

Here is the part most reports leave out. The oil barrel behind every one of these prices came off the same world market. Brent crude trades at one global price, give or take shipping. What changes by country is what each government adds on top.

$1.13US

$1.44Canada

$1.63Australia

$1.84South Africa

$2.32UK

US	$1.13
Canada	$1.44
Australia	$1.63
South Africa	$1.84
UK	$2.32

Converted to US dollars at spot exchange rates, 17-21 Oct 2026. Sources: EIA, UK Gov/RAC, Central Energy Fund, GlobalPetrolPrices.com.

Line up the tax share next to the price, and the pattern holds. The country with the lowest tax, the US, has the lowest price. The country with the highest tax, the UK, has the highest price. Oil is the one input every country pays roughly the same for. Tax is the one that is different in every country, and it is doing almost all the work.

Why are Americans still angry if they pay the least?

Because $1.13 a litre is still a record high for American drivers, even if it looks cheap from London or Johannesburg. US fuel tax is low by world standards, 18.4 cents a gallon federal plus 33.8 cents average state tax, which adds up to about 12 cents of every litre. The rest of the American price moves with the oil market itself, so when oil rises, Americans feel it directly at the pump with almost nothing cushioning the jump.

Why do Brits pay nearly half their pump price in tax?

Britain stacks two taxes on top of the fuel. Fuel duty is a fixed 52.95 pence on every litre, frozen until the end of this year, then due to rise twice more by March 2027. On top of that, VAT adds 20% to the whole amount, including the duty itself, a tax charged on a tax. Together they make up close to half of what a British driver pays at the pump, according to the House of Commons Library's own breakdown of the October price.

Why is South Africa's fuel price higher than Australia's or Canada's?

Part of the answer is the rand. South Africa buys its fuel in US dollars, so a weaker currency pushes the local price up even when the world oil price is flat. The other part is the country's own fuel levy and the Road Accident Fund charge stacked onto every litre, which we broke down line by line when the price first crossed R30 a litre. Just across the border, fuel costs noticeably less in Botswana, partly because its government takes a smaller cut.

Photo: Jordanroderick / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

Why did Canada's fuel tax suddenly drop to zero?

Canada is the twist in this story. The federal government paused its 10 cents a litre fuel excise tax in April 2026, and extended the pause into next year. That is one reason the Canadian price looks relatively low in dollar terms, even with provincial taxes still added on top, which range from about 6 cents a litre in the cheapest provinces to 27 cents in parts of British Columbia.

Why did fuel get this expensive everywhere this year?

Even with the tax gap stripped out, the oil itself got pricier for everyone in 2026. Tension in the Middle East pushed the world price of crude up for months, feeding into the wider oil shock that also hit diesel supplies and freight costs worldwide. That part of the price rise, every country shares roughly equally. The tax part is the one each government controls on its own, and the one that decides who pays double for the exact same barrel.

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So next time a photo of an angry sign outside a Los Angeles gas station goes around, remember what sits behind it. A British driver filling the same tank, from the same oil market, on the same day, is paying a government tax bill that is about to climb twice more before March 2027. The Americans in that photo have the better deal than they think.