Excise duties on diesel will increase by 6.1 cents tomorrow, without the mobile excise duty mechanism compensating for the end of the tax discount applied to date. In fact, the Mase-Mef interministerial decree which would have been necessary to use the VAT extra revenue to reduce excise duties does not appear in the Official Gazette. Tax cuts on fuel disappear completely for the first time since March, when the first legislative decree following the US-Iran war was approved.
The tax discount of 6.1 cents per liter on diesel expires at midnight, the latest one launched by the government, financed with cuts to ministries. From Tuesday 6 August, Prime Minister Meloni and Business Minister Urso announced in recent days, we will move on to mobile excise duties. Which are always tax discounts on fuel, but this time financed without touching public budgets. The interministerial decree of Economy and Energy Security on mobile excise duties is expected by midnight. It must indicate the fuels affected by the tax discount, the amount of the discount and the period of application.
Mobile excise duties are a self-sustaining mechanism. In practice, the cut in excise duties on fuel is financed with the extra VAT revenue on crude oil from the previous month, due to the increase in international prices. Compared to discounts financed with public funds, it does not increase the deficit, but allows a lower price reduction. The government announced weeks ago that it wanted to abandon general cuts on fuel (which favor the richest who consume more) and move on to targeted measures for the most exposed categories (the less well-off and hauliers). However, no political agreement has yet been found on these targeted measures.
Meanwhile, on 25 September Eni announced a price cap on its products of 2.19 euros on diesel and 1.99 euros on petrol, from 28 September for 30 days. On the 27th the discount on fuel for 30 days was also announced by the Azerbaijani group Socar, which controls Ip. On the 29th the Kuwaiti Q8 followed closely, and finally the Libyan Tamoil arrived. The price cap brought down average prices at the pump. On 27 September, self-service petrol on ordinary roads was at 2.159 euros per litre, diesel at 2.377. On October 5, petrol is at 2.048 euros and diesel at 2.242.
However, the small operators, the "white pumps", who do not have the sales volumes to offer discounts, have accused the 4 large groups of unfair competition. According to the Fuel Price Observatory of the Ministry of Business, on 3 October only 51.7% of the plants priced petrol below 2 euros per litre, and 52.2% of diesel below 2.20 euros. There are 10,400 plants that have adapted to the price cap, compared to the approximately 20,140 existing in Italy. For Thursday 8th, the ministers of Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, and of Business, Adolfo Urso, have convened the refining companies operating in Italy, to get an overview of the situation and understand if there are margins to increase production and reduce prices.
