Fuel meant for farmers being sold in Tallinn, Tartu
Six gas stations each in Tallinn and Tartu are selling fuel subject to tax incentives meant for farmers. In Tallinn alone, over 400 tons of fuel containing special fiscal markers has been sold at said gas stations in the first nine months of 2019.
The government has begun overhauling the sales system of fuel marked with fiscal markers and meant for farmers, as it is estimated that the current system is being taken advantage of to the tune of €5 million in lost fuel tax.
Raili Roosimaa, head of the Tax Audit Department of the Tax and Customs Board (PPA), confirmed that there are indeed gas stations in Tallinn and Tartu selling fiscal marker-marked fuel meant for farmers.
"It is being sold at six gas stations in Tallinn, and between February and September, 404,500 liters of fiscal marker-marked fuel was sold at these gas stations," Roosimaa said. "223,600 liters were sold in Tartu during the same period. It is noted during the sale that this fuel is needed in agriculture, as provided by law."
Fiscal marker-marked fuel is sold at a total of 134 gas stations in Estonia, with total sales volumes reaching over 17 million liters this year.
Estonian Chamber of Agriculture and Commerce (EPKK) board chairman Roomet Sõrmus told ERR that he doesn't understand why fuel meant for farmers should even be sold in major cities.
"In order to avoid the misuse [of this fuel], we should start with the first and easiest step of introducing a register of entitled persons," Sõrmus said. "In other words, only people involved in agriculture that are registered in the Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board (PRIA) support registry could buy so-called 'blue fuel.'"
He acknowledged that there may be specific instances in which people involved in agriculture may have to fill up in town.
"The majority of agricultural producers order fiscal marker-marked fuel and store it in their own cisterns," Sõrmus continued. "If the commercial sale [of this fuel] in cities is a problem and is facilitating the misuse thereof, then this is one means of curbing the sale of 'blue fuel' in cities."
The EPKK chairman stressed in contrast that rural and small-town living, on the other hand, are very much intertwined, and filling up in small towns is quite natural.
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Editor: Aili Vahtla