"Given the current situation of fuel prices which are soaring" due to the conflict in Ukraine, "we must go further" than the reduction in VAT, estimated on RMC the candidate of the National Rally, who already proposes to reduce the VAT on electricity, gas and fuels from 20% to 5.5%.
"I propose to remove the increases that were decided by Emmanuel Macron" as Minister of the Economy in 2015 and 2016, or president, in 2017 and 2018, of the TICPE (domestic consumption tax on energy products) , detailed Ms. Le Pen, who has made purchasing power a major focus of her campaign.
These cancellations of increases, associated with the reduction in VAT, would "lower the liter of diesel by 44 cents, and the liter of gasoline by 34 cents", specified the campaign team of the far-right candidate.
They will apply "as long as the barrel is above 100 dollars", while the reduction in VAT will apply in a "permanent" way, said Marine Le Pen.
A little more than a third of the price of fuel corresponds to the price of oil and more than half is linked to taxation, between VAT and TICPE, significant tax revenues for the State.
Marine Le Pen judged that it would be "madness" to impose an embargo on Russian gas and oil sales, as discussed by Washington and the European Union in response to the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, because it " is going to lead to increases in the price of gas and electricity that you can't even imagine".
Russia warned Monday of "catastrophic consequences" for the global market of such an embargo.
President candidate Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday that government aid for gasoline would be "improved" around a "mileage allowance and inflation allowance approach".
Faced with rising energy prices, the government has planned to spend around 22 billion euros on measures to support purchasing power, according to the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.
© 2022 AFP