Gvaramia Calls for Immediate Fuel Tax Relief in Georgia

"Coalition for Change" leader Nika Gvaramia calls for immediate temporary measures on fuel prices. According to him, a "catastrophe" in prices is inevitable without reducing the tax burden on fuel.

Gvaramia writes: "We cannot avoid a catastrophe in prices without reducing the tax burden on fuel. We need an immediate effect." In his explanation, fuel is built into the price of all products, so its increase will also be followed by a rise in the price of basic consumer goods.

According to the politician's calculations, temporarily suspending the excise tax would make a liter cheaper by about 40 tetri. Suspending both the excise tax and VAT together would reduce it by about one lari, that is, a quarter of the price.

Gvaramia also gave his own example: filling the tank of his car with premium fuel costs 260 lari, of which about 65 lari is tax, excise and VAT. According to him, if this is hard for him, taxi drivers, distributors and farmers struggle even more, as fuel is a daily operating expense for them.

Gvaramia claims that the government benefits from price increases, because VAT is a percentage of the price, and the more expensive the liter, the more the budget receives. According to him, hundreds of millions from this budget go to members and coordinators of "Georgian Dream" employed in legal entities of public law and LEPLs.

According to the politician, this year Germany reduced the fuel tax by 17 cents per liter, and Ireland by 27–32 cents. Gvaramia believes that Georgia should also adopt a temporary measure immediately, but the relief should reach the citizen and not be added to the profit margin of the "Ivanishvili fuel mafia."

Source: Interpressnews