Filenews 26 April 2023 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
DISY will seek to continue reducing consumption taxes on motor fuels and heating fuels to 100% on Thursday, with an oral amendment to the bill that will be submitted by the Ministry of Finance in the form of urgency to the Plenary of the Parliament.
DISY, now in opposition, will seek to keep excise taxes on gasoline reduced by 8.32 cents per litre and on heating oil by 6.32 cents per litre. Essentially, it will attempt to continue the measure implemented since March 2022 by the Anastasiades Government.
As is known, on April 12, the Council of Ministers approved an extension for another two months of this measure, but the reduction will be limited to 50%. That's 4.16 cents a litre for petrol and 3.19 cents a litre for heating oil.
The bill is being asked by the Government to be voted on tomorrow, in order to avoid the mess that occurred last time, with the delay of approval and the up and down of fuel prices at petrol stations.
With the latest government decision, the differentiated measure will take effect from May 5 to June 30, 2023 and will result in an increase in excise duty of about 4.2 cents a litre. The fiscal cost from the loss of excise and VAT revenues from the implementation of the two-month extension will be €5.96 million. The Government, justifying its decision to cut the reduction, argued that there is a stabilization internationally in the price of gasoline and a slight drop in the price of diesel and heating.
Behind-the-scenes consultations
DISY considers the decision of the Christodoulides government wrong, as it argues that inflation may be declining, but the cost of living continues to rise. According to F's information, DISY today and tomorrow will approach the other parties to support its amendment. In any case, the amendment can be approved without the positive vote of the 16 deputies of the three co-governing parties DIKO, DIPA and EDEK. If the other opposition parties, such as AKEL, ELAM and the Ecologists, support the amendment, its approval is a given.
The government is expected to argue that the amendment will be unconstitutional, as the state's revenues will be less than it has estimated as an executive. However, there is precedent, as the Supreme Court had previously ruled that legislation to reduce taxes on restaurants was constitutional. Specifically, in 2009, a proposal for a law by DISY, DIKO, EDEK and EUROKO was approved, which reduced VAT on restaurant and leisure services to 5%. At that time, the President of the Republic referred the law to the Supreme Court, which ruled that it was compatible with the Constitution.
