The state will receive an additional 3.6 billion from the gas price explosion
Created: 08/17/2022, 06:00
By: Janine Napirca
Not only gas importers benefit from the gas surcharge, but the state also collects more taxes from citizens due to rising gas prices.
From a financial point of view, the war in Ukraine is having an increasing impact on the citizens of Germany.
The prices of certain foods have skyrocketed, and inflation is putting a strain on consumers' wallets.
Gas prices are also exploding – and now the federal government has decided to add the gas levy.
You can read below
what this means for consumers in Germany and why the gas price explosions brought the German state 3.6 billion euros, according to the comparison
portal Verivox .
Gas prices are rising: what exactly is the gas surcharge?
The gas surcharge is intended to relieve gas importers who have received significantly less gas from Russia than was contractually agreed due to the increased gas prices as a result of the Ukraine war, as the
Tagesschau
reports.
The missing amounts of gas have to be obtained from other, more expensive sources.
So far, gas importers have not been able to pass on the price increases to consumers because, according to the report, the sales prices were usually fixed for a longer period of time.
Consumers in Germany must expect significant price increases for gas as a result of the gas levy decided by the federal government.
© Rene Traut/Imago
From when will the gas levy apply, which causes consumers high additional costs?
According to the Tagesschau report, the gas surcharge will apply from October 2022 until the end of March 2024. Until then, the gas importers will have to bear the additional costs themselves.
Subsequently, 90 percent of the price increases can be passed on to consumers via the gas levy in order to protect gas importers from bankruptcy and prevent delivery failures.
Chancellor Scholz promises not to leave citizens alone with the rising gas prices
How are consumers who are already burdened by the very high inflation supposed to be able to cope with the additional costs arising from the gas surcharge?
Chancellor Olaf Scholz promises on Twitter to support the citizens with another relief package.
Nobody should be left alone with the higher costs caused by the gas surcharge.
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Details on how exactly the state support should look like are not yet known.
It remains to be seen whether the new relief package will actually cushion the additional costs.
Verivox: Gas price explosion gives the state an additional 3.6 billion
The government's tax revenues are also increasing as a result of the rise in gas prices.
A press release by the comparison portal Verivox shows that German households will have to pay more than 3.6 billion euros more in sales tax in 2022 than in 2021.
In view of the current development, heating costs are reaching a level that many households are finding it difficult to bear.
The government could declare gas an essential commodity and lower the VAT rate on it from 19 to 7 percent.
This would relieve households by 4.4 billion euros in 2022.
Thorsten Storck, energy expert at Verivox
However, if gas were to be considered an “essential good” and taxed at only 7 percent instead of 19 percent VAT, Verivox calculates that consumers could save around 4.4 billion euros.
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According to Verivox, the average gross price for a kilowatt hour of gas was still 6.56 cents/kWh in 2021 - the VAT revenue from gas consumption consequently amounted to around 3.3 billion euros.
According to the press release, the gas price will already be 14 cents per kilowatt hour in 2022 (although further price increases are to be expected).
Assuming similar consumption as in the previous year, this would cost consumers in Germany more than EUR 6.9 billion in VAT, giving the German state additional revenue of more than EUR 3.6 billion.
If VAT is also levied on the gas surcharge, it will cost German households an additional 1.4 billion euros in taxes.