Return of the fuel discount: Nothing learned

The Union and SPD are pushing the second fuel discount within a year through the Bundestag and Bundesrat with high pressure. The reduction in the energy tax on fuel should be finalized by Friday, so that from October 1st the prices at the pumps will fall by the 17 cents that will flow less to the tax authorities. The federal government is not capable of learning. She repeats the mistake from spring.

The fuel discount in May and June was not fully passed on to consumers by the oil companies; when it expired, prices skyrocketed. For those who needed real support, such as the freight forwarding industry or those earning minimum wage, the discount was not enough. The others were happy about the gift and saw no reason to drive less. It will be like that again now.

The 2022 traffic light fuel discount was also wrong - but back then, the 9 euro ticket at least offered relief for everyone and thus an incentive to switch from private cars to public transport. But the Union and the SPD have no point in such incentives. Not least in view of the dwindling fossil fuels, it is overdue to dissuade people from driving combustion cars instead of encouraging them to do so by lowering prices.

Of course, the state should relieve the burden on citizens. Just not like that. Other governments have better ideas: fuel vouchers or energy checks like those in France or Greece can be used to target low and average earners. Help for individual sectors, like in France, also makes sense, or halving rail prices like in Lithuania.

The federal government will spend a total of more than 4 billion euros on the fuel discount by the end of the year - and that in a budget situation in which cuts are being made in every corner. It cannot be the case that politics continues to give something to the wealthy and take something from the poor.