Gasoline or diesel for less than one euro per liter. This is not a stock photo, but what you can see on the billboard of a gas station in Germany. The photo, which went viral across the Rhine, was also relayed in France on Facebook and on The photo was taken. So it’s cents. Impressive, right? »
This display is the initiative of a small local German company, and not a general movement in the country, as Silvano Trotta’s post suggests. On Monday, “we closed our gas station yesterday until around 6 p.m., in order to support the farmers in their protest,” explains to 20 minutes Michael Ermert, the managing director of Raiffesen, the company which operates two service stations in Bad Laasphe, a town located in North Rhine-Westphalia, about a hundred kilometers east of Cologne. The company’s logo is seen on the billboard in the viral photo.
The price displayed does not include the various taxes, but a commercial margin is included, specifies the manager, who denies any political comment on taxes with this action: “The display serves only for transparency on the price of the product itself and must not comment on the need for incentive taxes or state taxes.”
Farmers demonstrate against the removal of tax benefits
According to calculations by ADAC, Germany’s largest motorists’ association, taxes represent around 39% of the price of a liter of diesel in Germany. This share rises to 48% for gasoline. When they go to the pump, motorists pay three taxes: one on energy, another on CO2 and finally VAT.
Farmers began demonstrating across the Rhine on Monday to protest against the removal of two tax benefits on fuel. The German government has started to backtrack, announcing that one of the benefits will be maintained while the other will be gradually reduced until 2026.