French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said today that he supported the idea of distributing “petrol vouchers” to help low-income households cope with rising fuel prices. According to the Minister, this measure is preferable to reducing taxes on gasoline.
“I prefer petrol checks to tax cuts,” Le Maire told French radio Europe 1.
French Environment Minister Barbara Pompili, for her part, told France 2 television that the government was trying to introduce the “petrol vouchers” in question, but it was a complicated process.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also noted that the French state could receive an additional 2.5 billion euros in VAT revenues for 2021, if energy prices remain at current high levels.
He clarified that this is not really additional fiscal revenue for the state treasury, as it has already spent more than 5 billion euros to help households pay their heating bills.
Reducing value added tax (VAT) or the internal tax on energy consumption “is not the right option” to deal with the current situation, Le Maire said.
According to him, this could lead to both “suffocation” of economic growth and reduced tax revenue.
“The one cent reduction in the price of a liter of fuel means half a billion euros less in taxes for the treasury,” the French finance minister added.
Energy vouchers are currently provided to nearly 5.5 million households in France.
