If petrol/diesel prices keep rising, couldn’t governments just cap the cost of petrol/diesel to keep prices lower for consumers?

Question

Question’s in the title……
I’m no economist but I’m sure most of the cost of fuel is Fuel Duty (tax)….. so even though capping the price of fuel would mean governments making less money off fuel-duty, wouldn’t they make this back in VAT on other goods as consumer spending increases? (Because consumers have more money in their pocket?)

In: 2

Answer 1

I think e.g. Belgium does as well cap the prices. In germany though I paid 102 € for a full tank yesterday…