CIt is from April 1st that the new tax reform on the energy bill will come into force, concocted by the Minister of Finance Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V). This provides for a permanent reduced VAT rate of 6%. Exit the 21% then. But in return – to limit the budgetary impact of the measure in particular – the collection of excise duties will be modified. In the end, the consumer remains a winner, but his bills will still increase from April 1st.
How it works ? The consumer will pay a certain amount of excise duty if the prices do not exceed a certain ceiling (this is currently the case). If the prices cross this limit, then the excise duty will automatically fall on a basic slice of its consumption. What does this mean for an average household? Test-Achats did the math. Thanks to the definitive reduction in VAT, he saves 38.5 euros per month. But the increase in excise duties will cost him 22 euros per month. Final result: the average monthly saving is 16.5 euros compared to the pre-crisis situation.