Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin is “not in favor” of an increase in gas taxation

Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin said he was “not in favor” of an increase in gas taxation this Saturday, October 12 on TF1, while Minister of Ecological Transition and Energy Agnès Pannier-Runacher declared on Friday that the government would propose it via an amendment to the finance bill.

Laurent Saint-Martin is “not in favor” of this possibility…

“Agnès Pannier-Runacher said that there would perhaps be amendments on the increase in gas taxation,” said Laurent Saint-Martin on Saturday. He observed that the finance bill presented this week “does not contain an increase in taxes on gas” and declared that he was “not in favor” of this possibility. Friday during a press point, Agnès Pannier-Runacher indicated: “the challenge is also to work on brown niches through the increase in the automobile penalty, through the elimination of the reduced VAT rate of 5, 5% on the installation of fossil fuel boilers and finally by government amendment, through an increase in taxes on plane tickets and gas.

“It is important to provide consistent price signals between carbon solutions and carbon-free solutions,” she explained. “It is especially important to avoid public policies and public money making carbon solutions less expensive than decarbonized solutions,” added Agnès Pannier-Runacher, with particular reference to the increase in electricity taxation. , essentially decarbonized in France due to the importance of nuclear power.

Towards an increase in electricity bills

In its finance bill presented on Thursday, the government plans to increase electricity taxation to a level which will “guarantee the consumer a 9% reduction in the regulated sales price in 2025 from February 1”. It is counting on the drop in electricity costs on the markets to absorb the increase in the electricity tax, which will mark the exit from the tariff shield put in place during the energy crisis from the end of 2021 to contain the bills of French.

The electricity tax “is increasing because it had fallen to zero during the inflation crisis,” observed Laurent Saint-Martin on Saturday. “The State has protected our fellow citizens in the face of surges in energy prices, (…) today with inflation below 2%, for our public finances, we must remove this shield if there is no has more inflation.