Yesterday our Minister of Finance, Sigrid Kaag, informed us that we do not have to wait for a discount on fuel taxes. The income from petrol and diesel is too important for the Dutch government. Have you ever wondered what contribution you make to the country when you fill up your tank? In other words: how many liters of petrol and diesel does the Netherlands fill up? And how much does the government earn from this exactly?
How many liters of petrol and diesel does the Netherlands fill up?
The past few years have been a bit restless, also for road traffic. The Netherlands went into lockdown and many people joined meetings digitally in their pajama pants – nobody saw that. In April of 2020, we only filled 285 million liters of petrol in the Netherlands. Exactly one year later that was 427 million litres. This is the most recent data from the CBS† In March 2021 it was still 414 million liters. Let’s keep it at 400 million liters per month for ease of calculation.
Dieselers remained a lot more constant, no doubt because many companies had to keep driving despite lockdowns and other things. The number of liters of diesel fueled only once fell below 500 million and in March 2021 even 624 million liters went through the filling hoses. For convenience, we calculate with 550 million liters of diesel per month. Then we have about 15 million liters of LPG.
How much does the Dutch government earn from excise duties?
According to United Consumers, 17 percent of the price is currently VAT (that is if you calculate the 21 percent back from the tax-free amount) and 34 percent is excise duty. That equates to 40 cents VAT and 80 cents excise duty. In this calculation, the government therefore earns 480 million euros per month on the fuel that has been filled up.
There is 25 percent excise duty on diesel, which results in 35 cents of VAT and 52 cents of excise duty per litre. That amounts to 478 million euros per month. For LPG (14 percent excise duty), the government can currently count on 21 and 17 cents per litre. The unchauvinistic (because little tax) liquefied gas thus brings in about 6 million euros.
A quick calculation with the rounded liters shows a source of income of 966 million euros per month. So in a good month we all fill up 1 billion euros for the treasury. By way of comparison: in the Budget Memorandum, the state expects to spend 353 billion euros this year.
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