Were you thinking of getting gas this week?
Everything indicates that it is best that you do it as soon as possible. Since last February 28, when the United States attacked Iran, the pieces began to move. Hormuz was put at risk, oil and gas rose and service stations were already beginning to charge more money for a liter of gasoline.
Since then, an idea has been floating around: can the Government do something about the rise in gasoline?
The facts. Only a few hours had passed since first American bombing when the most cautious began to fill the tanks of their cars. Of course, the fear of a general increase in gasoline was already floating in the air. Just a handful of days later, has been confirmed.
And although the average price of gasoline has not yet reached 1.60 euros/liter, a good number of gas stations already show much higher prices. Especially in the big cities and in the big corridorswhere replacement is more common, prices have risen more strongly.
A solution? At the moment, the Government has not made major statements about what measures may be applied if the price of fuel becomes too expensive. The Minister of Economy, Carlos Body, for the moment he has limited himself to saying who are considering applying “a shield for our citizens and companies.”
The statements do not say much and it has not been clear if it is about trying to lower the price of fuel for final consumers, if only lowering the price for transporters or, if necessary, applying other types of alternative measures such as lowering the price of public transport. As was already done in 2022.
Help with the purchase. The most obvious measure that the State can apply if necessary is a purchase subsidy. In fact, gas stations, aware that this could make them advance the money as happened four years ago, They have been warning the Government that they would be against.
However, its activation in 2022 left some doubts:
Aid to public transport. In parallel with aid for the purchase of fuel, the Government tried to promote the use of public transport with very substantial price reductions.
The use of this means of transportation skyrocketed. Renfe even spoke of an increase in travelers of between 25 and 40% and 1.5 million requests for new free passes. Measures that, due to their application, also had their shadows:
And measures that have been extended over time. One of the problems that the Government has is that aid for public transport has been extended over the years. More or less reluctantly, some autonomous communities have maintained the reductions in the price of season tickets. Aid that was also extended to bus services.
By 2026, the Government announced a single pass for all of Spain. For 60 euros (30 if you are under 26 years old) you can use the entire medium-distance network, Cercanías, Rodalies and buses (in which the State provides the service). That is to say, there is little room to propose something much cheaper without putting the viability of the service at risk.
Taxes? It is another possibility but it seems very complicated for this to be applied. On a liter of gasoline, there are two types of taxes that the Government can reduce to lower the price of a liter of fuel: the Special Tax on Hydrocarbons and VAT.
Right now, each liter of fuel is taxed by a general and regional section (which is linear) in the Special Tax on Hydrocarbons, remaining as follows:
- Unleaded gasoline 98: 0.504 euros/liter.
- Unleaded gasoline 95: 0.473 euros/liter
- Diesel: 0.379 euros/liter.
To the price, after applying the tax and the cost at which the company wants to sell, 21% VAT is applied.
The problem is that these types of measures are considered ineffective for public coffers (lower collection) and The European Union has been demanding from Spain for some time that raises the price of diesel. A measure that would involve eliminating the current bonus that this fuel has in the tax outlined above and that has been repeatedly ignored from our country.
Photo | engin arkyut
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