There is nothing more political in the world than the price of petrol, now completely detached from its value. And if the latest data tell us about a slide in diesel fuel on the international oil markets and about a drop in petrol too (national average for self-service petrol below 1.86 euros/litre, diesel at 1.85) there is In any case, there is little to be happy about because the problem of high fuel prices will recur cyclically in all its severity.
It is good to remember that petrol, diesel, LPG and methane are the most taxed products of all. To understand the matter, it is enough to say that in Italy around 60% of the price at the pump is made up of taxes and “taxes on taxes” because there is VAT on excise duties. And it’s something unique in the world. Among other things, Italian motorists still pay excise duties on petrol and diesel for the war in Abyssinia in 1935, the Suez Canal crisis (1956), the Vajont tragedy (1963), the Florence flood (1966) and earthquakes in Belice (1968), Friuli (1976) and Irpinia (1980) and many others. “There is more bad luck in a liter of petrol than in the entire works of Nostradamus,” says Maurizio Crozza jokingly. But he’s right. And the joke makes it clear that there is no longer any connection between the goods and their price: we buy taxes, not fuel.
And if we look at the prices of petrol in the world, we understand the matter better: in Hong Kong, a liter of green is currently close to 3 euros per litre, while the cheapest is found in Venezuela, where the fixed price of petrol subsidized by the State stands, at the current exchange rate, just under 2 euro cents per litre. And in Iran we are at 0.03 euros per litre: no other commodity in the world has such different prices. To clarify, those who live in Hong Kong today spend around 150 euros for a full tank of a medium-sized car, compared to just 1 euro for those who live in Caracas. In Iceland you pay around 2.2 euros per liter (110 euros for a full tank) compared to 0.25 euros/litre in Kuwait (12.5 euros for a full tank). Prices around 0.3 euros per liter (around 15 euros full) in Egypt, Algeria and Angola. And in Europe the same chaos: the cheapest tank of petrol is in Warsaw, where today you spend an average of 65 euros; the most expensive one in Amsterdam, with spending averaging 110 euros. At the top of the European petrol price ranking is the Netherlands, followed by Denmark, Greece and Finland, all above 2 euros per litre. Italy hovers around fifth place – depending on the periods – just above France and Germany. While the European country with the lowest price is Poland with an average of 1.3 euros per litre, followed by Malta and Bulgaria.
This explains why in many countries (such as Italy where there are more taxes in the cost of fuel than raw materials), every small increase in the price of petrol and diesel is extremely dangerous: the rise in petrol prices acts as a tax on consumption, the pillar of the economy of many states. To give an idea, the increase in prices from the minimum in December 2022 to today would be equivalent in the USA to a brake on annualized consumption of 100 billion dollars.
It must be said that the United States, which has high consumption, thanks to cars with a fuel efficiency lower than the world average (-20%) and greater mileage (14,000 km per year), has lower fuel taxes than Europe where, however, cars have better efficiency (+15% compared to the average) and travel less road (7,000 km). But 50% of the UK pump price and 60% of the EU pump price is tax. This is three times higher than in the United States, where the federal tax on petrol of 18.4 c/d has remained unchanged since 1993. In short, one way or another, a small increase in the price of fuel risks causing a crisis the entire economy of each country.
#Gold #petrol #FormulaPassion.it