Energy Ministry pitches return of fuel tax collection
The Energy Ministry is planning to propose shifting the responsibility for collecting fuel tax as well as for setting the tax ceiling back from the Finance Ministry so it can better control the fuel prices and ease people’s burden.
Deputy PM and Energy Minister Pirapan Salirathavibhaga said on Wednesday that setting the fuel tax ceiling was formerly the responsibility of the Oil Fuel Fund, but was later handed to the Finance Ministry after a law amendment in 2019 to allow the fund to finance the government’s fuel subsidy programme.
“The system used to be in balance, with the Finance Ministry collecting the fuel tax and the fund setting the tax ceiling,” he said. “But now the Finance Ministry is controlling everything, resulting in the fund being overwhelmingly in deficit.”
Pirapan pointed out that the problem cannot be solved by asking the Finance Ministry to adjust the excise tax ceiling. Instead, the responsibility for collecting fuel tax should be entirely shifted to the Energy Ministry, since fuel is an energy product, he said.
Regarding transport operators’ concerns that the capped price of diesel at 33 baht per litre could pose a burden to business operators, as it is higher than the earlier capped price of 30 baht/litre, Pirapan said the capped price depended on the available money in the Oil Fuel Fund.
“If we find ways to replenish the fund, the subsidy could be further increased,” he said. “However, I do not agree with relying on subsidies to fix the prices. The correct approach is to fix the tax collection system and the ministry is working on the draft for this.”
The cabinet on Tuesday approved the extension of three subsidies in a bid to continue easing people’s financial burden. They are: capping the retail price of diesel at 33 baht per litre, capping cooking gas at 423 baht per 15kg canister, and capping electricity at 19.05 baht per unit for households using less than 300 units per month.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Tuesday that the first two subsidies will be financed by the Oil Fuel Fund, while the 1.8 billion baht funding needed for the last measure will come from the government’s central budget.
