The fact that several political parties have proposed lowering taxes on petrol and diesel during the election campaign does not immediately arouse enthusiasm among the National Bank Governor Christian Kettel Thomsen.
- We believe that one should be careful about using taxes to counteract fluctuations in market prices, he said at a press conference on Thursday in connection with the National Bank's new forecast for the Danish economy.
The oil and petrol taxes became a theme that came to occupy a large part of the election campaign, after the Danish People's Party on several occasions gave drivers handsome discounts on petrol and diesel.
The purpose of the actions was to draw attention to the DF's proposal to lower or completely remove the taxes in an attempt to meet the needs of car owners who are pressured by high fuel prices.
Later, the Liberal Party also followed suit, and in the final party leadership debate on DR Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S) also opened up for lowering taxes.
Can have unwanted side effects
But according to Kettel Thomsen, there are unwanted side effects when you short-circuit market mechanisms in this way.
- The higher prices are due to the fact that supply has decreased. But they also help to restore a better balance in the market. Both by reducing consumption, but also by encouraging producers to produce more. If you introduce lower taxes, it will help to keep prices up for a longer time, and that is why we are not enthusiastic about it, says the National Bank Governor.
He also points out that Denmark has an overall goal of using less gasoline and diesel. A tax cut would counteract that. Finally, a tax break will lead to a hole in the treasury, which will probably have to be filled again with other revenues.
- We are looking at a different fiscal reality in the coming years. It has become a little more everyday again, and we should probably look a little more closely at how we spend the money, is the admonition to politicians.
/ritzau/
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
