"While oil is close to $105 a barrel due to international tensions and traffic risks in the Strait of Hormuz, the government continues to take no provision on excise duties on fuels. A situation frankly unacceptable". This was denounced by Cinzia Franchini, president of Ruote Libere, an association that represents the hauliers. "During the 2022 election campaign - recalled Franchini - Giorgia Meloni had promised the cut of excise duties on fuels, accusing previous governments of making on the skin of those who work. Today, however, those promises they have remained a dead letter. Excise duties have not been reduced and the Temporary cut introduced by the previous government is not been renewed".

According to Ruote Libere, the tax dynamics on fuels is evident. "Between excise duties and VAT - Franchini pointed out - the State collects over 100 million euros every day from the sale of petrol and diesel. It is therefore clear that the more the price of fuels increases, the more tax revenue also grows". Added to this is the recent realignment of excise duties: "from 1 January 2026, with the so-called fiscal realignment - explained the president of Ruote Libere - the excise duty on diesel is has been increased to 672.9 euros per thousand liters. A further increase of the tax burden on the very fuel that feeds the freight transport'.

"The truth - said Franchini - is that hauliers are incurring increasingly high costs while the state continues to collect. But without the transport On the road, the Italian economy comes to a standstill. Continue to treat the industry as a tax ATM is simply irresponsible".

Ruote Libere has urged immediate and concrete interventions to to resolve the situation, starting from two measures that the association considers that the following can be implemented immediately: the immediate reduction of excise duties on diesel, at least to compensate for the increase introduced with the January 2026 tax realignment; the introduction of a automatic fuel tax reduction mechanism when the price of oil exceeds certain thresholds, to avoid that every international crisis automatically turns into a increase in costs for transport and for the entire economy.

"The government," Franchini concluded, "must decide from what part: if on the side of those who work and keep the logistics of the country or on the side of a tax system that continues to cash in on diesel. The State collects over 100 million euros a day from fuels: a part of these resources must immediately return to those who keep the economy of the country".