According to a letter from the German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner, to the EU Finance Commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, “VAT on state fees drives up prices and meets increasing resistance from the population, especially in the current situation”.

In the document, quoted this Sunday by the German Press Agency (DPA), Lindner asked the European official to make use of his right to offer the states of the bloc the possibility of not applying VAT to state rates in the sector energy for a while.

Beyond this request, Germany will also apply for an exemption under Article 395 of the VAT Directive on reduced rates, the minister added.

The request to the EU comes together with a decision by the federal government to apply a tax on gas from October, to prevent importers from suffering serious losses as a result of the sharp reduction in Russian gas supply.

In this way, importers will be able to deduct part of the additional costs of gas purchase on consumers.

According to calculations by the Ministry of Economy, as a result of this decision, gas consumers, both companies and households, will have to pay between 1.5 and 5 euro cents more per kilowatt hour.

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