Despite the tank discount, the prices for diesel and petrol are not falling. Motorists and politicians are sure that the oil companies are putting the money in their pockets. But according to a new calculation, that’s not true.
The tank discount continues to cause discussions. Not only motorists have the impression that the mineral oil companies are putting the money in their own pockets. “Minister Habeck must now put pressure on and, together with the Federal Cartel Office, ensure that the relief takes effect,” said the FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr of the “Bild” newspaper. It must be prevented that the mineral oil industry does not pass on the tank discount in full. The deputy leader of the Union faction, Jens Spahn (CDU), also called on the Minister of Economics to act: “The tank discount, worth billions, is seeping away and the traffic light is watching. Ordering the oil multinationals for a report is the least that Minister of Economics Habeck can do.”
ADAC and Cartel Office criticize oil companies
After the drop in price as a result of the tax cut on Wednesday last week, fuel has become significantly more expensive again. A liter of diesel is now only 3.2 cents cheaper than the day before the tax was reduced by 16.7 cents. With Super E10 it is 20.9 cents – with a tax reduction of 35.2 cents. “If you factor out the tax cut, the price at the gas station has risen more than the price of crude oil since the end of May. That naturally raises questions,” said the President of the Federal Cartel Office, Andreas Mundt. The proposals now go as far as breaking up the corporations.
But the Ifo Institute for Economic Research comes to a different conclusion: According to new calculations, the oil companies pass it on to customers. In the case of diesel, the gas stations would have passed on 100 percent of the temporary tax reduction of 17 cents per liter, the Munich economists said on Tuesday. At Super it was 85 percent of 35 cents lower taxes.
According to Ifo, the tank discount ends up with the consumer
The calculations were based on a comparison with France, where there is no tank discount. Gasoline has become steadily more expensive there in recent weeks as a result of rising oil prices. In Germany, on the other hand, petrol prices initially fell sharply before picking up again. Most recently, the ADAC had criticized that the tax cut would largely go to the oil companies.
Ifo President Clemens Fuest criticized the tank discount as a tax gift for the wealthy. “It benefits people with higher incomes and higher fuel expenditures and not people with low incomes,” Fuest wrote in the statement. “In addition, he sets the wrong incentives: He does not encourage people to use less petrol and diesel. For ecological reasons and to reduce dependence on Russia, the exact opposite would be necessary.”
Source: Stern
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