The Czech Republic charges the highest excise tax on fuel of all the new
eastern members of the European Union, data released Wednesday by
Europe's Energy Portal consultancy showed.
The Czech Finance Ministry imposes a 0.516 euro tax on a liter of unleaded fuel and 0.440 euro on a liter of diesel fuel.
Excise tax levies on unleaded gas in the other nine eastern EU
members, including Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, the Baltic countries and
several nations in the Balkans, range from 0.393 euro per liter in
Estonia to 0.316 in Romania, EEP data showed.
While Romania
also has the region's lowest excise tax levy on diesel fuel of 0.360
per liter, Slovakia has the second-highest diesel excise tax of 0.515
per liter of gas.
All post-Communist EU members joined the current 27-nation bloc in 2004 or later.
Despite Czech excise fuel taxes being the highest among
eastern EU members, they are still below the levels set in most western
European countries.
Taking into account varying levels of valued added tax, retail
prices at gas stations vary from just above 1.2 euros per liter in the
eastern EU, including the Czech Republic, to nearly 1.8 euros in the
west of the region, such as the Netherlands, EEP said.