(Finance) – ”The price of petrol could be reduced by 20 cents a liter without any negative consequences on the state coffers”. That’s what he says Taxpayers Federationwhich is about to launch a ”operation truth” on the composition of the price of fuels at the pump. The association will present an awareness campaign on the increase in fuels with the slogan “Half of your full money goes to the State in taxes”, with a graphic printed on a sticker that will be stuck on many petrol pumps.
”It is right that citizens know – he maintains Marco Paccagnella, president of Federcontribuenti – that 55% of the cost per liter of petrol is made up of taxes: on the two euro cost per liter of unleaded petrol, the total excise duty reaches 98 cents, to which a value added tax of 20 cents is applied. Basically a tax on taxes. The raw material costs only 60 cents of the final price which is completed by 22 cents of the cost of distributing the fuel from the tankers to the gas station. Service station operators are the weakest link in the chain. Hopefully, they only get 4 cents a litre. These unjustified increases, like the 2.7 euros in a pump on the Milan-Varese route, do nothing but cause moral and material damage to citizens and businesses. All of this is unacceptable and we therefore also invite the competent directors of the Ministry of Economic Development to return to their work in these days to give a serious and concrete response by setting in motion all the tools to stop this tsunami”.
“If the average price of petrol, based on the data communicated by Mimit, has reached an average of 2.019 euros per self on the motorway, on many routes green petrol in served mode is close to 2.5 euros per litre” he says Absolute users, which not only returns to denounce the obvious increases in prices at the pump, but also points out how the increases continue despite the decline in oil prices. “There are numerous plants located on the motorways which, as of today, sell petrol (served) at 2.499 euros per litre, and diesel at over 2.4 euros” explains Assoutenti, who carried out monitoring at 9 am today on the basis of the data communicated by the managers to Mimit itself. “But beyond the motorways, the price lists are increasing throughout the network. In just three months, from May to today, – underlines Assoutenti – a liter of petrol is increased by an average of 13.2 centsThe diesel costs even 17.7 cents more. This means on the one hand that a full tank of green costs 6.6 euros more than in May, +8.9 euros a full tank of diesel, on the other hand that state coffers are earning billions of euros through VAT and excise duties thanks to the price increases of fuels. An increase in the last few days that occurs despite the drop in oil, whose prices have fallen for both Brent and WTI”.
“The escalation of petrol and diesel price lists is there for all to see, and is confirmed by the official numbers provided by Mimit himself – declares the president of Assoutenti Furio Truzzi –. Yesterday Minister Urso, speaking of lower industrial prices than other EU countries, confirmed the alarm raised by Assoutenti about the weight of taxation on fuels which, in Italy, is among the highest in Europe and penalizes motorists in the peninsula , making the price lists grow at the pump. For this reason we reiterate our request to the Government to intervene with immediate effect, exploiting the extra profits forfeited in recent months thanks to fuel taxes for a decisive cut in excise duties on petrol and diesel. It is also necessary to understand what happens in the various stages of the fuel supply chain to ascertain how price lists can skyrocket even when, as in recent days, the price of oil is falling”.
Prices on the motorway at 9 am today (Mimit data, served mode, petrol and diesel) – A1 2.499 € 2.409; A7 2.469 € 2.369; A14 €2.499 €2.399; A20 €2.499 €2.299; A21 €2.499; €2.409; A22 €2.479 €2.379; A26 €2.469 €2.369.
Higher spending compared to the national average prices in force on the network in May 2023 (Assoutenti elaborations on Mimit data) – Petrol +13.2 cents per litre, +6.6 euros per tank; Diesel +17.7 cents per litre, +8.9 euros on a full tank.
Even the Codacons returns to attack the high fuel price, which in the crucial weeks of the summer caused very high prices on Italian roads and motorways. The Association sent today a complaint against the Ministry of Economy and Finance for embezzlement and speculation from insider trading, with a warning to freeze the 2.2 billion euros of excise duties forfeited in the last week alone. “After the sixteenth consecutive increase in the cost of fuel – which the executive apparently does not consider alarming, considering it net of excise duties – it is truly incredible to witness the scene of a government that takes merits that do not exist and manages to accounts without excise duties, in the clumsy attempt to convince citizens that the situation is under control, all this while the Italians, now resigned to bloodletting, find themselves bled to death at the petrol pump – underlines Codacons -. to the Government that families do not pay the price deducted from excise duties but the real one: they have to bear an average price of 2 euros per litre, almost 3 euros in the worst-case scenario, and no one has so far been able to stop the price climb. In short, inconsistency reigns supreme: if for the Government it is the excise duties that are to blame, now the promise to cancel them – made in abundance in the past years by various exponents of the current Government – has disappeared into thin air. A circus of the absurd which, as usual, the Italians pay for. Precisely to protect the rights of citizens, therefore, Codacons today presents a complaint to the Ministry of Economy and Finance with a warning to freeze the revenues from excise duties, which represent an embezzlement and a rigging speculation against consumers “
Coldiretti it also notes the impact of expensive petrol on the shopping cart. “In a country like Italy where 88% of the goods travel by road to reach the shelves the increase in petrol and diesel prices – Coldiretti points out – has a snowball effect on business costs and consumer spending. To suffer the consequences of the increases is the entire agri-food system where the costs of logistics come to affect around 1/3 of the total costs for fruit and vegetables. A situation that worsens Italy’s competitive deficit due to infrastructural delays with the average cost per kilometer for heavy transport goods which, at a national level, is equal to 1.12 euros/km, higher than countries such as France ( 1.08 euro/kilometre) and Germany (1.04 euro/kilometre) according to the analysis by Coldiretti on data from the Centro Studi Divulga. The Italian logistics gap involves an increase in expenditure 11% higher than the European average and hinders – Coldiretti continues – the development of the country’s economic potential, in particular for sectors for which the transport system is crucial, as in the case of the national agri-food system, a point of excellence for Made in Italy exports”.
“From this point of view, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr) can be decisive in supporting the competitiveness of businesses by unlocking the infrastructures that would improve connections between the South and North of the country and also with the rest of the world by sea and rail, with a network of hubs made up of airports, trains and cargo” concludes the president of Coldiretti Ettore Prandini.