On Thursday, the Ministry of Finance issued the following message: “Removes fuel tax from 1 January 2023.” According to the ministry, this is a historic tax cut for the construction industry. In addition, most people will reportedly get cheaper fuel because the road use tax is reduced. – Reduced fuel taxes help make everyday life a little easier for households and business, says Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum. Now several people are reacting strongly to how this is presented. – Selling this as a big cut is a diesel bluff from Vedum, says Ingunn Handagard, press manager at Naf. Will the decision make it cheaper to fill the tank? Hardly, says Naf. Photo: Kutt tips for ordinary people? The Ministry of Finance writes that the total cut in fuel taxes is NOK 2.2 billion. To make it easier, we distinguish between the construction industry and ordinary people. Building and construction: The basic tax on mineral oil is removed, giving relief of NOK 1.88 billion. At the same time, the CO2 tax for non-road machines is increased by NOK 390 million. The total reduction will be NOK 1.56 billion. According to figures from the Ministry of Finance, the construction industry will receive a cut of NOK 1.56 billion. Ordinary people: The road use tax is reduced by NOK 1.88 billion. At the same time, the CO2 tax for ordinary people is increased by NOK 1.26 billion. According to the Ministry of Finance, the total reduction will be just over NOK 600 million. But according to Naf, this reduction is a hoax. Why? Because increased requirements are also being introduced for biofuel – both for ordinary people and the building and construction industry. – Fuel prices have increased sharply through 2022. Many households and businesses experience high fuel prices as a major challenge, says Trygve Slagsvold Vedum. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Lar Believes the pump price will remain unchanged Ingunn Handagard in Naf says she misses clearer information from Vedum and the Ministry of Finance. – Concrete figures that show how much this tax cut will mean to ordinary people. So at the pump price. – Vedum presents that this is a big tax cut for most people. It is not. Ingunn Handagard in Naf believes the reduction will be eaten up by increased demands for biofuel. Photo: NAF Handegard says that the reduction of 600 million will probably be eaten up – and that the price of the pumps will be completely unchanged. – They increase the requirement for mixing in biofuel. It is more expensive than regular fuel. Any price cut will probably be eaten up by this price difference, she says and adds: – Ordinary people are therefore unlikely to see any difference in the pump price over the New Year. The involvement requirement is increased from 15.5 per cent to 17 per cent for ordinary people. For non-road machines, the requirement is set at 10 per cent. – Based on what we have seen, we believe this means that the tax cut must be over 20 øre per liter to keep the pump price unchanged. Anything above this will cause the price to go down. We have requested figures on this from Vedum, but we have not received them, says Handagard. – We feel that the Ministry of Finance is quite disorganized in its communication around this. I think the price will be higher. Naf says they must have better figures to be able to answer what exactly will happen to the price. The Progress Party’s Roy Steffensen is unimpressed by what is presented by the ministry. – It is unbelievable that we have a finance ministry that sends out press releases where they mislead people and the press. I expect a government to speak the truth and be honest, says Steffensen to NTB. Roy Steffensen (Frp) is unimpressed. He believes it will be more expensive to refuel next year. Photo: Ole Andreas Bø / news The FRP politician adds: – Here Vedum is bluffing, and Støre should ask himself if he is served by a finance minister who does not care about facts and who obviously struggles to use a calculator, says Steffensen. Steffensen calls today’s news a rhetorical stunt. – The hard facts for the approximately 900,000 motorists who drive petrol cars are that the total petrol taxes will have increased by 53 øre since Vedum became finance minister in October 2021. All of these have good reason to feel deceived by Vedum’s rhetorical antics today, says Steffensen. Claims the price would increase without cuts news has asked Finance Minister Vedum to respond to the criticism from NAF. State Secretary Lars Vangen (Sp) responds to the criticism that is made. Lars Vangen (Sp) is State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. – The pump prices are primarily determined by international market prices for fuel, but we ensure that the fees are reduced in total. – Without our changes to the road use tax, the price would have gone up. There is no doubt that fuel taxes are now being reduced, so it is fair to say that the cuts should have been even greater. It is an honest matter, continues Vangen. The State Secretary sets up the following calculation: Comments to the table The top table shows the effect of the tax changes on the pump price. This is the sum of road use tax, land tax and CO2 tax. It has been taken into account that the fuel sold in practice is a mixture of fossil and biological fuel. The figures for “2021 to 2022” are in 2022 kroner, and show what the government presented in the supplementary number last year. The figures for “2022 to 2023” are in 2023 kroner, and show the impact of this year’s budget agreement. The bottom table shows the same figure, but including the impact of changed turnover requirements in 2023. All figures are without value added tax.’ Source: The Ministry of Finance Vangen writes that the state budget for next year is estimated to reduce the pump price of industrial diesel by 50 øre per litre. – Despite the government’s tax reductions in fuel taxes, the budget is not expected to significantly affect the pump price for road traffic.
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– Selling this as a big cut is a diesel bluff – news Nordland
