Due to tax cuts: Gas station operators fear bottlenecks at the pump

Gas station operators in Germany are warning of bottlenecks at the pump because of the tax cuts on fuel at the beginning of June.

The chairman of the Federal Association of Free Gas Stations, Duraid El Obeid, told the "Rheinische Post": "A high demand from drivers will meet a low supply." and 29.55 cents per liter for petrol.

The Bundestag decided on Thursday.

The sharp reduction in energy taxes poses a "double challenge" for the gas station companies, said the general manager of the Fuels and Energy Association (En2X), Christian Küchen, the newspaper.

On the one hand, they would try to reduce their stocks by June 1st in order to be able to sell as little highly taxed fuel as possible cheaper from June 1st.

On the other hand, it is to be expected that motorists will drive to the petrol pumps en masse from June 1 of all times to fill up empty tanks.

"Therefore, temporary bottlenecks at the stations cannot be completely ruled out," he says.

Worry about June 1st

The problem is related to a peculiarity of tax law.

The energy tax on fuel is levied at the refineries and tank farms and not at the gas stations themselves. Every liter of diesel that the gas stations have delivered before June 1 costs them 14 cents more than from June 1, every liter of premium petrol costs almost 30 cents more.

From June onwards, however, significantly lower sales prices can be expected, regardless of what the goods cost when they were purchased.

The head of the consumer advice center in North Rhine-Westphalia, Wolfgang Schuldzinski, advised: "Because bottlenecks are imminent on June 1, nobody should run their tank almost completely empty before then."

For the months of June, July and August, the tax concession for fuel applies.

For the three-month period, the Bundestag decided to reduce the energy tax on fuels to the minimum permitted in the EU.

In the case of petrol, the tax burden is temporarily reduced by 29.55 cents per liter - including VAT even by almost 35.2 cents.

With diesel, there is a minus of a good 14 cents per liter or 16.7 cents with VAT.