Ecobreves – CHILE: No to a Gas Tax Cut

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SANTIAGO, Jun 1 2009 (IPS) - Environmental groups in Chile oppose President Michelle Bachelet's decision to lower the maximum tax on gasoline until April 2010. The cut is from 6.5 to 4.5 monthly tax units (UTM), or 120 to 84 dollars per cubic meter of gasoline.

In October 2008 the tax had already been temporarily reduced to 3.5 UTM (about 65 dollars) per cubic meter, but as the price of oil fell, the tax was to increase gradually to 6.5 UTM.

If the bill that the government will send to parliament is approved, the maximum tax possible will be 4.5 UTM.

“Reducing the gasoline tax means stimulating the burning of fossil fuels, which produces serious harm to people's health and the planet's climate,” Luis Mariano Rendón, of the non-governmental Acción Ecológica group, told Tierramérica.