Opinion writer warns of a populist ‘oil fire’ in 2027 as pump taxes include everything except a receipt for the national mood
French drivers are paying prices at the pump well above the levels that sparked the Gilets Jaunes protests, and an opinion writer is warning that it could bring a populist win in the 2027 presidential election, according to a piece in The Local France by John Lichfield. A supermarket diesel sign showed 1.40 euros a litre eight years ago. He recently saw it at 2.40 euros, a rise so steep that the sign itself has apparently started to look nervous.
The Pump Price Pyramid: Taxes Stacked Like Croissants
The breakdown at the pump is a masterclass in layered pastry. There is an excise duty of 0.69 euros a litre on petrol and 0.61 on diesel, a 0.12 euro carbon levy, and 20 per cent VAT on top. Only the VAT rises with the price, so the government enjoys a small bonus every time the world gets angrier. This is what economists call an automatic stabiliser and what motorists call a joke told by someone who has never driven.
‘A tax that rises when your pain rises is not a tax,’ explains Dr Valentin Roussel-Morin of the Institute for Forecourt Studies. ‘It is a relationship. And France is in the stage of the relationship where the partner starts reading your messages.’
The Government Plan
The government plans 450 million euros in refunds for the final three months of 2026. Eligible motorists rise from three million to five million and the maximum subsidy rises from 50 to 100 euros. That is a substantial gesture, given that the 2022 refund scheme cost 8 billion euros a year. The author calls the main alternatives ‘false good ideas’: La France Insoumise proposes freezing pump prices, and the Rassemblement National proposes cutting VAT to 5.5 per cent at a cost of 12 billion euros a year.
Four Ways to Survive a 2.40 Euro Litre
Drive less. Drive slower. Drive someone else’s car. Or move to a village where the pump is a bakery and the diesel is a baguette.
Britain Knows the Feeling
The British are no strangers to this experience. Reports from London say diesel heads toward two pounds a litre and motorists begin financing trips to the petrol station, and that Google Maps now shows live petrol prices, so drivers can watch their financial ruin develop in real time. Inflation, meanwhile, has been hovering at 3.3 per cent, which the Treasury describes as a stable resting state for a hamster wheel.
Saturday the 17th
Nationwide fuel protests have been discussed for Saturday, 17 October. Polls show President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu at new lows, and Marine Le Pen at 35 per cent in the first round, her highest level. The moral of the story is that when a country’s pumps read like a phone number, the voters start dialling. For a deeper look at the comedy of politics, this guide to political satire in the UK is highly recommended. More from The Daily Mash, and this report is courtesy of Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.
SOURCE: bohiney.com
