Growth in gasoline prices because of the new excise tax was scared even the chamber

15 October 2018

The chamber feared that the increase in the excise tax on gasoline will jump in the price of fuel in 2019

In the study of the accounts chamber on the draft Federal budget for the 2019-2021 years it turned out that the planned increase in the excise tax on gasoline from one and a half times almost certainly lead to a sharp rise in fuel prices.
Accordingly, from January 2019, the excise tax on gasoline will increase from ₽8213 to ₽12 314 per ton.
In addition, the chamber recalled that from 1 July this year, the excise duty is temporarily canceled, and his rates were lowered.
At the conclusion of the Department on the draft budget States: "According to audit chamber, the increase in excise duty by 1.5 times from January 1, 2019 may again lead to a sharp rise in gasoline prices and to require additional compensatory and deterrent measures." It turns out that even parliamentarians appeal to common sense: why waste shift money from one pocket to the other – to increase the excise tax, and then pay offsetting compensation to fuel consumers?
In addition, the report noted that the government's actions in the current year has not led to a significant reduction in prices that deigned to fall just 0.2 percent in July and 0.3% in August, "it is not enough to compensate for the faster growth of prices, accumulated since the beginning of the year (by the end of July with the beginning of the year 8.8 per cent)".

In 2018 prices bloomed with spring
According to Rosstat, average retail prices for gasoline and diesel fuel on 7 Oct rose, respectively, to ₽43,28 and ₽44,68 per liter.
The sharp rise in fuel prices in Russia started in the spring. So, in mid-April, retail gasoline prices surpassed the bar ₽40, and by the beginning of June – and ₽43.
Further, the government still decided to reduce the excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel, and successfully convinced the producers of fixing prices at filling stations as of 30 may.
Fuel kings asking to cancel the freezing of prices
The Russian fuel Union sent a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak with the request to cancel the freezing of prices for Russian gas stations. The organization believes that this measure threatens independent companies with the upward trend of wholesale prices for petroleum products, according to the President of RTS Evgenie Arkusha.
He said: "the independent gas stations is not possible to control prices, and customers are already moving away from them for refilling large oil holding old prices".
He pointed out that stock prices for oil again have gone to growth, and major oil companies since July, and "never got around" to implementing the instruction of the government to increase sales in the domestic market by 3% compared to last year.