A Polish driver who does not drive an electric car, but a traditional combustion car, can breathe a sigh of relief. After the act was passed quickly by the Sejm and Senate and signed by the president, fuel taxes were reduced. VAT decreased from 23 to 8 percent, the excise tax on gasoline was reduced by 29 groszy per liter, and on diesel by 28 groszy to the lowest possible allowable in the EU.
Effect? We have the cheapest gasoline in the EU – according to e-Petrol data, quoted in Orlen's entry on the X platform. “Did you know that in Poland we now have the lowest gasoline prices in the EU? And this despite the greatest crisis on the fuel market in history. And from tomorrow, apart from the CPN package, our promotion of up to -35 cents for each liter applies,” we read.
Data on the e-Petrol website show that only one European country has prices lower than our price of PLN 6.16 per liter on April 1. It is Türkiyewhere you have to pay PLN 4.96 for a liter of petrol, and still people probably complain that it is expensive, because a few days ago they had it cheaper.
In the case of diesel prices at gas stations, Turkey is also the cheapest on the continent (PLN 5.88 per liter), and diesel fuel is cheaper than in Poland in Slovakia (PLN 6.99), Bulgaria (PLN 7.07) and Croatia (PLN 7.42). In terms of diesel prices, we are in fifth place in Europe and fourth in the EU with a price of PLN 7.54.
The thing is that this is not due to our fuel market at all. If you look at the prices excluding taxes, i.e. those offered by the market from refineries to gas stations, we are among… the most expensive markets on the Old Continent.
On a net basis, Polish fuel prices are among the highest in Europe.
On April 2, the European Commission released a weekly bulletin on fuel prices, “Weekly Oil Bulletin”. Prices were collected on March 30, i.e. two days earlier than those from e-Petrol. But the prices given there were influenced by tax declines in Poland, and we are interested in prices without taxes, so this will not prevent comparisons. And there is nothing to brag about here, on the contrary.
After deducting all VAT and excise duty, the net price in Poland on March 30 was PLN 4.38 per liter of gasoline and PLN 5.68 per liter of diesel oil. In the case of gasoline, it is the fourth highest price in Europe – after the Netherlands, Denmark and Spain.
No taxes diesel is also the fourth most expensive in Europe — PLN 5.68 net each. And here they are also ahead of us, in no particular order: the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.
The above information shows that yes, thanks to cutting taxes at gas stations, we pay less. But we could pay even less when the fuel market offered the same prices as in most EU countries.
Author: Jacek Frączyk, editor of Business Insider Polska
