Berlin The criticism of the plans of Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) for a tank subsidy does not stop. In principle, a relief for drivers in the current situation is to be welcomed. “However, the planned tank discount would mean the death knell for many small and medium-sized gas station companies,” said Duraid El Obeid, CEO of the Federal Association of Independent Gas Stations (BfT), the Handelsblatt.
El Obeid pointed out that the gas station operators would have to make advance payments until they could be reimbursed by the tax authorities. This is “absolutely unachievable” for the numerous individual filling stations in particular. With average sales of 200,000 liters of fuel per month, the gas stations would have to pre-finance around 40,000 euros a month with a 20-cent discount. To do this, expensive short-term loans would have to be taken out, which the gas stations might not even be granted. “They would quickly become over-indebted.”
The head of the German tax union, Thomas Eigenthaler, also criticized a state-subsidized discount for drivers. “That would be a new multi-billion dollar subsidy for which I can see no legal basis,” Eigenthaler told Handelsblatt. The trade unionist also thinks little of a reimbursement system by the tax authorities. “That would result in a huge repayment bureaucracy that would take many months to set up.”
In addition, there would be no staff in the authorities for this. With the Corona bridging aid, you have seen how complex and lengthy such aid is. Such reimbursement scenarios are also “extremely prone to abuse,” warned Eigenthaler. No financial authority can reliably control something like this.
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Finance Minister Lindner, on the other hand, defended his concept: “To relieve the burden, a fixed amount per liter will be granted as a crisis discount directly at the till,” said the FDP leader to the Handelsblatt. The fuel price at the pump remains unchanged, so that there is full transparency.
Tax union for higher commuter allowance
Lindner promises an unbureaucratic implementation. “The state should not act on the basis of individual tank processes with the petroleum industry, but on the basis of the total quantity of liters sold,” he said. With a relief of ten cents, the minister assumes costs of 550 million euros per month.
BfT CEO El Obeid, on the other hand, fears a high level of bureaucracy. In order to activate an immediate discount for the fuel customer, the checkout systems at the gas stations would have to be reprogrammed, he said. That can’t be done in a week. “Collecting and registering the corresponding receipts would also involve increased personnel costs,” he warned.
>> Read also: Tax cuts, fuel discounts and energy bills: the traffic light discusses these reliefs
El Obeid therefore advocated another relief instrument. “The most practical thing would be to reduce VAT by the desired amount in the short term,” he said. “This measure was already practiced recently and can therefore be mapped more easily in practice.”
The tax union leader Eigenthaler advocated adjusting the distance allowance for business trips more significantly than planned. “This would be a system-compatible measure that people understand and that is also practicable,” said Eigenthaler.
Diesel has increased in price by a good 64 cents since the beginning of the war
Fuel prices are currently at an unprecedented level after skyrocketing in the first two weeks of the Ukraine war – sometimes by more than 10 cents a day. Diesel has risen by a good 64 cents since the beginning of the war, and Super E10 by almost 45 cents.
However, they have been stagnating for a few days. The nationwide daily average on Sunday was premium E10 petrol at 2.199 euros per liter, diesel at 2.305 euros. Both are slight declines from Friday’s high.
Nevertheless, the prices are unusually high compared to the current oil price: “The decades of experience that the price of petrol is based on the price of crude oil does not currently apply,” said ADAC fuel market expert Jürgen Albrecht. “At the current oil price, one would actually expect an E10 price of well under two euros,” he emphasized.
“However, there are special factors related to the war that are driving up the price. It is not clear whether these justify the current price level or whether there are also deadweight effects.”
At least he sees hope that the market situation will normalize: “Sooner or later the current decoupling of fuel prices from oil prices should be broken again. At the moment, however, it is not possible to say when this will be the case, because it also depends on developments in Ukraine.”
More: New state aid in sight: economy demands “quick and unbureaucratic regulations”