The union of technicians of the Ministry of Finance (Gestha) foresees that the Government will put an end on June 30 to the VAT reduction applied to electricity, gas, gasoline, and diesel, once the deadline established in the first package of anti-crisis measures to face the consequences of the conflict in the Middle East expires.
This forecast is formulated after the European Commission has disseminated its recommended practices to protect consumers and industry, with the aim of promoting a long-term clean energy transition, favoring immediate energy savings, accelerating the deployment of clean solutions, and stimulating investment in energy efficiency and power generation.
Gestha backs most of the guidelines put forward by Brussels, including the reduction of special taxes in line with discussions already held, but warns that generalized VAT reductions clash with the EU's Affordable Energy Action Plan and with the strategy to eliminate preferential tax treatment for fossil fuels.
At the same time, Treasury technicians emphasize that the reduction in tax rates and surcharges on electricity bills are "cyclical and palliative measures" to compensate users for the rising cost of electricity, but they do not address the origin of the problem. Therefore, they propose reducing transport and distribution costs (tolls), as well as grid access tariffs and other actions included in the European Clean Energy Plan.
In this regard, Gestha considers it positive that the Commission urges aid to be directed primarily to the hardest-hit sectors and to households with medium or low incomes, a direction that the union had previously been demanding.
Brussels and Spanish "best practices"
At the same time, Treasury technicians admit that Brussels points to several Spanish measures as examples of “successful practices”, such as the single payment for collective public transport, the expansion of the social thermal and electricity bonus, the price cap on butane and propane, tax incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles and charging points, for self-consumption of electricity and for the energy rehabilitation of residential buildings, especially in vulnerable neighborhoods, the limitation of supply cuts to vulnerable households (such as prior notification to municipalities in Catalonia), the promotion of energy communities, and the temporary suspension of the Tax on the Production of Electrical Energy.
In particular, Gestha considers that the Spanish aid of 20 cents per liter of fuel directed at transporters, farmers, and fishermen, as well as the supervision by the National Commission of Markets and Competition of the behavior of operators, logistics, the food chain, and retail trade, fit with the European recommendations.