New extension for excise duty cuts? The hypothesis comes directly from Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini, who spoke about it on the sidelines of the “In your defense” event, organized by the League.
The conflict between Ukraine and Russia
The leader of the Northern League also addressed the economic short circuit triggered by the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, indicated as one of the causes behind the surge in prices at the pump: “Italy supports Ukraine which affects Russia’s refineries. Result: the cost of fuel increases throughout the world”.
“It is a distortion – added Salvini – which must lead us to think as free men and women: we finance an attacked country, but with part of this aid the attacked country bombs the refineries of the aggressor country. Result: the cost of fuel increases throughout the world. Working all together to end the war in Ukraine and the Middle East is a duty of every Italian public administrator, otherwise we will never go home again”.
Excise duty cut, extension hypothesis
In the meantime, the government is trying to stem the cost of fuel with the mechanism of mobile excise duties. The leader of the League confirmed the possibility of an extension of the measure until the end of September: “Is an extension of the measure conceivable until the end of the month? We will discuss it in the next few days because the discount on diesel expires tomorrow. I think it will be extended until the end of the month or almost, with the excise duties moving. Then we will have to decide, given that I fear there will be no positive news on the Iranian or Russian-Ukrainian front.”
“On the renewal of the fuel discount – he added – the League’s request was that all self-employed workers, VAT numbers, traders, taxi drivers should also be included. I am sure it will be accepted. Including only employees would exclude a galaxy of people. The self-employed worker is not a second class worker”.
Codacons: “Insufficient measure”
According to Codacons, however, the new extension hypothesized by Salvini would not be at all sufficient: “It is clear that the path of extending the tax discount is no longer enough to save the pockets of Italians, because the increases at the pump continue unabated and are causing a generalized increase in retail prices in all sectors. Suffice it to say that today, based on the data communicated by Mimit, a full tank of diesel costs 5 euros more than a month ago, and there is an increase of 4 euros for a full of petrol”.
“These data – concludes the consumers’ association – are destined to get worse, and not a little, considering that with oil above 100 dollars a barrel, prices at the pump will undergo substantial new increases. The measure of cutting excise duties only on diesel and for just 17 euro cents is no longer sufficient: we are in the presence of a real emergency which risks having devastating cascading effects on the purchasing power of citizens and on family consumption, and which must be addressed with extraordinary measures. The The government must not only strengthen the discount on diesel, but also extend the cut in excise duties to petrol, in order to give relief to citizens exhausted by the high cost of fuel”.