European governments are closing the siege on fossil fuels. Given the slow sales of electric cars, one way to push people towards them is to increase the price of fossil fuels.
This is the case of Italy. Giorgia Meloni’s government has decided to increase taxes on diesel. In principle, the measure will not affect the road transport sector, which already threatens strikes and mobilizations if the exemption is not confirmed.
The transalpine country is in a situation similar to that of Spain. There taxes on gasoline represent 60.1% of its price. Those of diesel, 56.3%. The new standard aims to gradually equalize the charges of both fuels by 2030, slightly lowering the gasoline tax while raising the diesel tax. The Italian Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Edoardo Rixi, estimates that it will represent an additional 3,000 million euros in revenue.
Incidentally, the measure seeks to encourage the purchase and use of cleaner vehicles… imposed by the European Union with the emissions limit of 95 g/km in 2025 which, de facto, requires that around 20% of sales of each brand are pluggable.
The German case
Germany was one of the countries where sales of electric cars were going at a good pace… until they withdrew purchase aid almost a year ago, they collapsed with falls of more than 50% in some months. Now, several of the Landers where car manufacturing is most important, such as Lower Saxony, Saarland or Hesse, have brought the idea of resuming subsidies for the purchase of electric cars to the German Federal Council.
Nothing new… except that the idea is that the new funds would come through an increase in diesel taxes. The proposal is already on the table of the Federal Government, which is the one who must make the decision whether to gradually increase the tax on diesel to the level of those borne by gasoline. It is the “special effort” indicated in the document sent by the Federal Council.
The Federal Environment Agency calculates that this privilege for diesel in the form of fewer taxes causes the German State to stop entering 9.6 billion euros annually. In 2022, the aid that encouraged the sale of up to 820,000 electric cars cost 3.4 billion.
Spain on the charge again?
In Spain, gasoline pays €0.731/l in taxes (calculated with the price of €1.495 per liter). Diesel much less, €0.617/l (calculated at €1.372/l). We tell it in this video:
The current government has already proposed a diesel tax in 2022, as part of the Recovery Plan presented to the European Union to qualify for aid funds after the pandemic (specifically in reform 4 (C28.R4), under the title “Diesel Reform”. fiscal measures to contribute to the ecological transition” and with the textual section of “review of fossil fuel subsidies”.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the rise in prices put an end to that idea, which sought to tax up to 3.8 euro cents more per liter of diesel to be equal to gasoline taxes. With sales of electric vehicles that are not picking up pace… will the Germans’ idea be copied and the tax increase will be put back on the table?
