Fuels: the government maintains its refusal to lower taxes despite the rise in prices

The government remains “unfavorable” to “more general measures” of aid to deal with the rise in fuel prices, due in particular to the “situation of public finances”, Bercy declared on Wednesday, after a meeting with fuel distributors. Some participants in this meeting “were able to express themselves in the press on the advisability of more general measures”, such as a temporary reduction in taxation on fuel, but “the government remains unfavorable”, explained the Ministry of the Economy during a press briefing by telephone. “When it comes to a price cap, everyone is free to do so if they wish to do so,” said Bercy, who remains “unfavorable” because “to cap is to organize shortages.”

As for a reduction in taxation, made in other countries, “the situation of public finances does not seem to us to allow this type of measure” in France, explained Bercy. The same source stressed that this was “not the line” adopted by the government, favoring “aid targeted at the most exposed households and businesses”, for a total amount of 1.4 billion euros. Last week, the president of the strategic committee of the E.Leclerc centers, Michel-Edouard Leclerc, estimated that “there is a threshold where the public authorities will be obliged, if it lasts, if it is too strong, to reduce fuel taxation a little”.

The government also reassured on Wednesday again about the availability of fuel, insisting that there is “no risk on the supply of stations at the national level”. Asked about the impact of price increases on tax revenue, Bercy indicated that fuel consumption had adjusted to prices, being on average down 5.5%. At the end of last August, tax revenues on fuels were 9 million euros more than at the end of August 2025, with +304 million euros in net VAT offsetting -295 million euros in excise duties collected, says Bercy.

Wednesday at 11:00 a.m., SP95-E10 gasoline, the most consumed by the French, sold on average at 2.124 euros per liter, a record level since the start of the war in the Middle East, and diesel, at 2.292 euros per liter, according to an AFP calculation based on government data. These fuels are therefore respectively 23.5 and 33.3% more expensive than at the end of February. These averages exclude Corsica and overseas departments and regions. Earlier on Wednesday, the CEO of Coopérative U, Dominique Schelcher, estimated on RMC/BFMTV that prices would remain “tense” as long as there was no “peace” in the Middle East.