The rise in the price of gasoline every summer confuses and sometimes infuriates the Russian car owner. It would seem that there is no reason for this, except for the arrogance of the gasoline tycoons. However, not all so simple.
The price of gasoline, it turns out, depends on a number of economic reasons.
Fuel excise taxes
The state raises excise taxes on fuel, because the budget needs to be filled. The budget deficit in Russia is no secret to anyone. Large-scale spending on international sports and on the construction of strategically important facilities needs to be covered with something. Well, the producers of gasoline and diesel fuel are forced to raise gasoline prices, since the cost of a liter of fuel includes about sixty percent of excise duties and taxes. Nobody wants to work at a loss.
Harvest season
Indeed, gasoline prices jump steadily in late summer, when the harvest is in trouble and the farms are harvesting. Agricultural machinery requires a lot of fuel, and drivers are forced to refuel their cars with more expensive gasoline. It would seem that agricultural enterprises will feed the country with the harvested grain and vegetables throughout the winter, therefore, on the contrary, it is necessary to reduce the price of gasoline and help them to harvest. But nothing personal, just business. Profit is paramount for gasoline tycoons.
Passivity of the population
In European countries, the population is strenuously resisting the rise in gasoline prices and is holding protests. In France, for example, people have cleverly defeated voracious gasoline dealers. They posted on social media a call not to buy gasoline at gas stations that raised prices. As a result, thanks to the maximum repost and coherence of the French, those gas stations that did not raise prices remained in the profit. The rest of the gasoline traders suffered colossal losses, and they had no choice but to return the price of gasoline to its previous value.
International integration
In recent decades, the whole world is strongly connected to each other. And it's not a secret for anyone that the price of gasoline in European countries is much higher than ours, since oil is more expensive there. Accordingly, Russian gasoline producers want to sell more fuel to the West. Because of this, a shortage is found on the Russian gasoline market and the price of fuel jumps.
Of course, the Federal Antimonopoly Service should monitor everyone who wants to make money on fuel exports. It manages to prevent the creation of an artificial shortage of fuel in the domestic market. But to create such conditions so that it would be more profitable to sell gasoline within the country, it has not yet been possible. It seems that the solution to the problem is to increase the state duty on oil and oil products. In the meantime, Russian car owners can only hope that the state will put things in order with gasoline prices, and the annual increase in fuel prices will no longer affect us.
