PN says government is hiding tax on fuel

The government is hiding a tax on fuel, the Nationalist Party said in a statement. Statistics from the European Union’s energy website show that, excluding taxes, the price of unleaded petrol in Malta is €0.711 per litre, while the price of diesel is €0.731 per litre. In both cases, these are higher rates than in any other EU member states.

Including excise duties and VAT, the price of unleaded petrol rises to €1.44 per litre, close to the EU average of €1.363 per litre and cheaper than in nine EU member states.  The EU’s website does not list the retail prices of diesel.

“Joseph Muscat’s government is lying and trying to fool the people into believing that fuel is cheaper here than it is in other European countries,” the PN said. “These European statistics clearly show that the price of petrol here is 20% higher than the EU average. While the level of taxes on fuel is on par with the EU average, the price of fuel itself is substantially higher. Excluding taxes, petrol is 30c cheaper than in Malta while diesel is 27c cheaper.”

The PN criticised the government for not having explained these “new taxes on the people that haven’t been in approved in Parliament” and challenged them to publish its contracts of sales for fuel. 
The European statistics that the PN cited can be viewed here. 

The Labour Party yesterday criticised shadow finance minister Tonio Fenech for presenting ‘baseless’ calculations in Parliament.

“According to Fenech, diesel should cost €1.09 per litre while petrol should cost €1.16,” Labour said in a statement. “In no European country is fuel that cheap and the price of fuel in Malta is cheaper than the European average.”

Using the European statistics cited by the PN, petrol would cost €1.313 per litre if it was bought at the EU average and €1.142 per litre if it was bought at the rate Sweden buys it.   

Labour went on to criticise Fenech’s tenure as Finance Minister between 2008 and 2013.

“Using Fenech’s own system of calculation, the price of petrol and diesel should have increased by 25% during his tenure as Finance Minister, and instead it increased by 35%,” Labour said. “By his own measurement, Fenech said that his government had stolen from Maltese consumers. The Opposition should publish the details of its false calculations so that the people can get to see their economic expertise.”