Focus supports scrapping fuel measures, but also demands lower taxes and excise duties
Party president Gabrijel Deak said the state must test how much cheaper fuel would become if it gave up part of its revenue.
Party president Gabrijel Deak said the state must test how much cheaper fuel would become if it gave up part of its revenue.
The Focus party on Thursday supported Prime Minister Andrej Plenković's proposal to lift the administrative measures under which the government sets fuel prices every 14 days. At the same time, however, they are calling for such a move to be accompanied by abolishing or significantly reducing taxes and excise duties on fuel, the party said.
In Focus, they believe fuel prices should not depend on political decisions, telephone sessions and temporary regulations. Instead of administrative management, they seek an open market, real competition and clear rules for all participants, according to Prigorski and Novi list.
"If the prime minister is serious about scrapping the measures, we accept that proposal. But then let's go all the way, end administrative price-setting, and let the state give up part of the taxes and excise duties it currently collects on every liter of fuel," said Focus president Gabrijel Deak.
Deak reminded that citizens and entrepreneurs at petrol stations do not pay only the price of oil and the trader's margin, but also high excise duties and VAT. "The state thereby takes a large share of the final price. The government cannot on one hand talk about protecting citizens and on the other take tens of cents per liter through taxes and excise duties," he said.
Therefore, Focus proposes that the government's authority to manage prices be abolished, and that excise duties and fuel taxes be temporarily suspended while high energy prices last. "If it is time for a test, then let us test how much cheaper fuel would be if the state gave up part of its revenue," Deak concluded, in remarks carried by multiple media outlets.
The same day, the association Glas poduzetnika (UGP) also responded, rejecting the prime minister's claim that entrepreneurs are silent while being protected and only speak up when they have to pay more. UGP stresses that aid to the economy came from taxes and contributions of citizens and entrepreneurs themselves, not from the government's pocket, and it announced a fall protest if a real dialogue on tax burdens fails to take place.
