The price of gasoline could drop by approximately HUF 20, and the price of diesel by HUF 10, if according to the previous agreement, fuel would be available at the regional average price at domestic wells, Economix wrote in its analysis.
Last week, the average price of 95-octane gasoline at domestic wells of HUF 638 exceeded the average price of neighboring countries by HUF 18, or 2.8 percent. For diesel, the average price of HUF 652 exceeded the average price of 10 neighboring countries by HUF 26, or 4.5 percent.
According to their analysis, in the case of gasoline, you had to pay more for the fuel in Slovakia, Austria and Serbia, and in the case of diesel, the price tags of the well pillars showed a higher amount at wells in Serbia and Austria. It was then established that, based on the data published by the Central Statistical Office, the expectation that it would be possible to refuel at the regional average price at domestic wells was indeed not met.
Are fuel prices high because of taxes?
According to several analyses, fuel is expensive because of the high tax rate. However, according to the economic portal, the data of the European Commission’s weekly oil price bulletin fundamentally refutes this belief.
In the case of gasoline, the total tax content of HUF 292 in Hungary is higher in the five countries of the region (Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Croatia) than the Hungarian budget. In our eastern neighbor, Austria, the tax content of gasoline was HUF 344 last week.
If we calculate the amount of tax content in proportion to the average price available at the wells, then Poland also joins the group, since the tax deduction there also accounts for 45.6 percent of the final price – just like in Hungary.
The Hungarian tax content is the same as the regional average.
As a proportion of the total price, the deduction is smaller in this country, only the aforementioned 45.6 percent of the price at gas stations is tax in the case of gasoline, while the regional average is 47 percent. In the case of diesel, an amount higher than HUF 285 comes to the state in the form of taxes in Austria and Slovenia.
In addition, the rate of withholding tax in relation to the retail price was also higher in Croatia last week than the domestic rate of 43.6 percent. The paper reminded that the Hungarian tax deduction as a whole is HUF 19 higher than the average level in the region, and the deduction in proportion to the final price is at a higher level than the average of 42.5 percent of the 10 countries.
It cannot be denied that, within taxes, the 27 percent general sales tax significantly increases the price of fuel. However, according to the analysis, it should not be forgotten that the HUF 120 gasoline and HUF 110 diesel excise taxes are 27 and 20 percent below the average based on the prices of the 10 countries:
Hungarian motorists pay HUF 80 less excise tax than those filling up with gasoline in Slovakia, and in the case of diesel, the excise tax is HUF 46 in Austria, HUF 44 in the Czech Republic and Slovakia higher than at Hungarian wells.
It is also important to emphasize that the tax content is not fixed in amount, but adjusted to the price. Considering that the problems on the budget are currently visible on the revenue side, so if the government acts according to its own point of view, it will not touch the prices. However, if he wants to enforce that agreement, it is conceivable that he will intervene in fuel prices – as the Minister of National Economy stated to Index earlier.
In this way, however, it also puts pressure on itself, since the prices falling by 3-5 percent also reduce tax revenues to the same extent – and this means billions of dollars – the economic portal concluded. They also went on to say that if taxes are not the cause of the problem, then it is worth looking on the producer’s side.
They recalled that, based on the European Commission’s comparison, the domestic tax-free price for gasoline at HUF 348 exceeds the average of the 10 countries in the region by HUF 18 and diesel oil at HUF 9. For diesel, the tax-free diesel price in Slovenia is almost HUF 60 lower than in Hungary. For both fuels, the tax-free price is higher only in Serbia than in our country.
Mihály Varga: Fuel prices are not caused by taxes
We previously wrote that the Minister of Finance wrote in a Facebook post on Monday, providing data from the European Commission, that “Hungary has one of the lowest fuel tax burdens in the European Union”.
High fuel prices are not caused by taxes.
In his Facebook post, the minister published a table on the proportion of the tax burden on 95 gasoline in EU member states. According to the table, the tax burden on 95 gasoline in Hungary is 46 percent, while in Austria it is 52 percent, in Germany 55 percent, in Slovakia and the Czech Republic 49 percent, and in Poland it is 46 percent, similar to Hungary. Thus, the Economix article practically supported the words of the head of the ministry in the detailed analysis.
