More than 200 million kuna per month, or about 2.5 billion kuna annually, oil traders in Croatia will earn less due to the government’s decision to limit the fuel margin to 65 lipa. Namely, as a result, according to expert estimates, traders of oil derivatives will earn about one kuna less per liter of fuel. And since more than 2.5 billion liters of gasoline and diesel are sold annually in the Croatian market, it is easy to calculate how much the latest decision from Banski dvori represents a blow to their revenues.
However, the Regulation on determining the maximum retail prices of oil derivatives was adopted only for a period of one month, so it is questionable whether the government will continue with the same price-fixing policy after that period expires. Or will it come up with something new? Three months ago, the government made a similar decision when it, as now, reduced its excise duties but also fixed the traders’ margin at 75 lipa.
While Croatia has decided to go down the path of direct price limitation on fuel, some European countries have resorted in recent months to the so-called windfall tax, and energy companies, specifically those dealing with oil and gas, have decided to impose additional taxes.
Is the state an extra profiteer of inflation?
The tax on ‘excess profit’ was first introduced by Italy, which initially imposed an additional tax of 10% on energy companies and later raised it to 25% (on all companies whose profit margin has increased by more than 10% compared to the same period last year). A similar measure was recently announced by British Finance Minister Sunak. Hungary, on the other hand, has imposed varying tax rates, from 4.1% to 25%, on banks, telecommunications and energy companies, as well as traders and airlines. In all these countries, the money collected from additional taxes is supposed to be redistributed in various ways, by government decisions, to groups of citizens affected by the high rise in prices.
