New circulation price increase
23/10/2014 00:00
The Washington Agreement Must Be Reactivated! 06/01 19:04
The government is preparing another tax increase with fuel. Sources from
the Ministry of Finances said for Top Channel that one of the variants
that is being discussed in the new fiscal package is a 10 ALL price
increase on the circulation tax that citizens pay in the final gas
price.
This tax is currently 17 ALL per liter, and it might mount up to 27 ALL per liter, trying to reach the excise level. For politicians, the gas price has been one of the preferred sources for increasing taxes.
This policy has made citizens pay 86.86 ALL of taxes to the government for each liter of gas they buy.
But what is Albania’s position compared to other countries. Top Channel refers the official sources from the European Union. The cost of one liter of gas in Albania is 190 ALL. 52% of it goes for the cost and profit of sellers, 48% goes for taxes. With the new tax increase, taxes will reach 53%.
Eurostat says that only three countries in the EU have a higher tax burden than Albania in fuels, and these countries are Italy, Britain and Sweden. In all other countries, taxes are less than 50% of the price. This policy and also the monopoly structure of the market has brought another result: the Albanian citizens, despite being among the poorest in Europe, pay more for gas than their EU neighbors, including Germany.
The tax on fuels might be an easy method for authorities to collect more taxes, but Albania already has very high prices for these products that have a chain effect in all other prices.
Top Channel
