07/22/2023 – 23:04 Economy
The national government has contained fuel prices, through the suspension of tax rates that should be unfrozen in November and the increase would be 258% in the value of the tax burden. This would imply an average increase on gasoline of around $60 per liter and, in the case of diesel, of $40.
Since the government launched the first fair price agreement for fuels, gasoline and diesel have increased eight consecutive times, seven of which were this year.
However, the last tax update was made in October of last year and, even, there was already an accumulated delay.
Today the delay is eight quarters, that is, 24 months. The tax update is frozen from the third quarter of 2021, all of 2022 and it will reach November with the first two of 2023. This is not counting the fact that the increase in the third quarter of this year will be on date in November, which will probably add to the queue.
Every time the tax burden is updated, the fuel producers transfer it to the demand. Faced with soaring inflation, the State chooses to postpone them to the detriment of tax collection.
At a general level, for each liter of gasoline about $28 are taxes and in the case of diesel it is almost $18. If the delay is regularized as established by the current regulations (see below), the amounts of the taxes should increase by 258%.
The estimates come from a report by the consulting firm Economía y Energía (E&E) led by Nicolás Arceo. Official data from the Afip and the Energy Secretariat were used.
Beyond the amounts, which vary according to the prices of the pumps in each point of the country, what stands out is that it is a regulation that is not respected, but that in the same way its income is part of the planning of the national budgets of each year.