The Madrid government wants to raise fuel taxes to speed up decarbonization and bring taxation closer to other European countries.
Crossing the border to refuel a car at lower prices has become a habit for many Portuguese living at the border, but it may soon stop paying off. According to the now famous proposal, the Spanish government intends to introduce a historic increase in fuel taxes to accelerate the decarbonization of the economy in the coming decades.
The Spanish press points to an increase that could be around 20 cents, bringing the tax burden closer to that of the eight main European Union countries on gasoline: Austria, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. as EU-8 in Spain 2050 report. Framework and proposals for a long-term national strategy.
If this increase is confirmed and using the averages for the first quarter of this year as a reference, the price per liter of gasoline in Spain will be only five cents lower than in Portugal. The average cost of 95 unleaded petrol at Portuguese petrol stations in the first three months of the year was € 1.50 and at petrol stations in Spain € 1.25. That is, the difference is 25 cents.
The weight of taxation also shows a large disparity between the two countries: in Portugal, taxes account for 63.2% of the selling price for the population (PVP). In Spain it is 55.1%, which is eight percentage points less. Compared to the group of eight countries cited in the report, the average weight of taxes on gasoline prices is about 63% (in Portugal – 63.2% in the first quarter of this year).
But it is the tax on diesel that the government of Pedro Sánchez wants to make first in the war against diesel.
Diesel: minus 8 cents
On average, diesel fuel in Spain is 8 cents cheaper than gasoline, and compared to Portugal, the difference is even greater. Once again, if we take the figures for the first quarter of this year as a reference, the price of a liter of diesel fuel on the other side of the border was 1.13 euros. In Portugal, over the same period, a liter of diesel fuel cost € 1.32, or 19 cents more.
The document substantiates such a fuel taxation policy on the need to adapt to new forms of mobility in the next three decades. “There will be fewer private cars and more public cars, more bicycles and more public transport,” the document says.
“Mobility will be transformed with the proliferation of electric vehicles, which will become more economical and competitive, and which will make up the bulk of the Spanish fleet by the middle of the century”, assuming that combustion-engine cars will still exist, especially for freight and intercity transportation. but “more efficient and with fewer polluting fuels.”
new tax The document, published in May, also provides for the introduction of a new tax on the use of cars. Madrid intends to replace current taxes such as purchase, turnover and fuel taxes with a vehicle performance tax.
PRR funds In the Recovery and Resilience Plan, Spain has committed about 40% of the € 69.5 billion towards greening, and Portugal 38% of the € 16.6 billion, one of the largest eligible spending areas when using funds from the base. …
