Barthélemy Philippe, edited by Philippe Folgado // Photo credit: MATHIEU THOMASSET / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 18:43 p.m., December 09, 2023

Getting out of fossil fuels will be expensive in terms of investment, but we talk less about it, it will cost the State a loss of revenue. Tax revenues from fuel and gas will fall sharply before theoretically disappearing completely by 2050. A report has just been submitted to Bruno Le Maire making this observation.

This is one of the objectives of the COP28 being held in Dubai, to find an agreement on fossil fuels. Reducing the use of these energies before fully phasing them out will be costly in terms of investment, but it will be a real loss of revenue for the state coffers. This is a crucial windfall that our public finances will be deprived of.

Electricity taxes, far from compensating for the loss of revenue for the State

Fuel and gas taxes brought in €33 billion in 2019, the reference year of the report that was submitted to Bruno Le Maire, i.e. 10% of total state revenue. According to the report, budget revenues from fossil taxes will have already fallen by €13 billion in less than seven years, in 2030. One in five cars will then be electric and therefore more concerned by these taxes.

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And the latter will disappear in 2050 at the same time as the vast majority of combustion engine cars. So yes, the transition of the vehicle fleet will boost the yield of electricity taxes. But with unchanged taxation, they will be far, far from compensating for the loss of revenue for the State. The entourage of the Minister of the Economy explains that the report, the first of its kind, should make it possible to find alternative ways. But the work has not yet begun and at this stage, there are no leads, Bercy acknowledges.