If the VAT increase is a certainty, that of petrol is a paradox. Today is October XNUMXst and, as expected, the third rate of value added tax rises from 21 to 22%. The government decree that was supposed to postpone the increase in January has not even been discussed by the Council of Ministers, because the government crisis has in fact opened up in the last few days useful for defusing the VAT bomb.
Professionals, traders and consumers must therefore start counting. The range of goods and services affected by the increase is very wide (bills, food, clothes, jewellery, computers and so on), but that of fuels is a special case.
La petrol will rise by about 1,5 euro cents per litre, while the Diesel will increase by 1,4 cents and the LPG by 0,7. The paradox is this: if the VAT had not increased, the increase in fuel prices would have been much heavier.
How is it possible? The mystery is solved by recovering the draft of that famous decree never discussed, which included an increase in excise duties on fuel by two cents per liter for 2013 and 2,5 cents until February 15, 2015.
However, it should be noted that today Eni decided to mitigate the impact of the increase by immediately taking into account the significant drop recorded yesterday on international markets: the six-legged dog raised the price of petrol by 0,9 cents, while diesel rose by 0,6 and the LPG of 0,7.
In general, the national averages of green and diesel they rose respectively to 1,807 and 1,732 euro/litre (LPG at 0,818). The peaks arrive at 1,852 and 1,761 (Gpl at 0,848).
In any case, the VAT increase will weigh on many other items of family budgets: according to the Codacons, in one year the households of three people will spend up to 209 euros more, while for those of five people the increase will rise to an average of 349 euros.
All this will benefit the public finances, but will cause a further contraction in consumption, damaging the real economy. In the update note of the Def, the Government claims that in 2014 inflation will reach 2,1% (from 1,5% this year), only to start decreasing again in 2015.
Had we escaped this danger, however, today we would pay even more for petrol. Cold consolation, but right now it's the only one possible.
