Ecotax

Regulated fuel prices will rise by several cents on 30 January despite a lowering of excise duties, the third time in a row that prices will increase under the administrative pricing model in place in Slovenia.

Regular petrol will be almost 7 cents more expensive at EUR 1.355, while the price of diesel is going up by almost 5 cents to EUR 1.529.

Ljubljana – Prices of regular and diesel sold outside motorways will drop a bit at midnight under the government-administered pricing model. Regular will cost 2.3 cents less at EUR 1.723 a litre and diesel 4 cents less at EUR 1.808 a litre, the Economy Ministry has announced. The new prices will stay in force for a fortnight until Monday, 18 July.

Comment by energy expert Boyan Rashev

Ljubljana – Environmental taxes paid into the national budget amounted to EUR 1.309 billion in 2020, 18.4% less than in the year before. Energy taxes represented more than four-fifths of the overall tax take, while almost two-thirds of total taxes was paid by households.

The European Union is using its heft as a wealthy trade bloc of half a billion consumers to set the global pace of climate change action, challenging others to match the ambitions of its latest carbon cutting plans.

 In recent months, the price of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has increased significantly and is already above the forecast of the Bulgarian Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC), according to a published report.

In 2018, environmental tax revenue in the European Union (EU) totalled €324.6 billion, a 3% increase in nominal terms from the previous year and 49% higher than in 2002, Eurostat reported.

Energy taxes accounted for the largest share (77.7%) of the EU's 2018 environmental tax revenue, followed by transport taxes (19.1%), and pollution and resource taxes (3.3%).

A new climate tax, which is being introduced in many European countries and is likely to become mandatory for EU countries, is on the way to significantly increase the cost of airline tickets, especially those sold by the so-called low cost airlines.

According to the Russian Autostat agency, which examines the automotive market in Eastern Europe and Bulgaria, in our country only 4 out of 100 people are buying a new car. 

Bulgaria is among the first five countries in the EU with the highest environmental taxes, according to data from Eurostat's analysis of the share of environmental taxes in total government revenue from taxes and social contributions in 2016.