Fuel Prices in Europe / Here are the 10 countries with the highest gasoline taxes
Almost half of what European drivers pay for gasoline goes to governments. Here are the 10 member states with the highest gasoline taxes.
Filling up a car has never cost more in the European Union.
Euro-super 95 gasoline reached an average of 2.063 euros per liter on September 14, the highest price in the European Commission's series dating back to 2005.
The crisis began at the end of February, when the war with Iran broke out and disrupted energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Brent crude oil cost around $72 a barrel before the war and on Monday traded at more than $100 for next month's delivery.
Refineries added their pressure.
Refining margins measure the gap between what refineries pay for crude oil and what they earn selling gasoline and diesel.
ECB experts estimate that in the third week of September, these margins added 0.17 euros for every liter of gasoline in the euro area and 0.41 euros for every liter of diesel.
However, almost half of the money drivers hand over at the pump goes to governments in the form of taxes.
How the tax bill increases
Gasoline is taxed in two main stages. The first is excise duty, a fixed fee per liter that does not automatically increase with the price of oil. Some countries also impose carbon taxes or others.
Then comes value-added tax (VAT), which is levied on the price of fuel after these duties and taxes have been added. Therefore, drivers pay VAT on excise duty: a tax on tax.
Across the EU, taxes averaged 0.976 euros per liter, accounting for 47.3% of the pump price. In seven member states, they exceeded 1 euro.
Here are the ten countries with the highest tax bills per liter.
- Latvia: €0.960 per liter
Latvia increased the excise duty on unleaded gasoline in January from 532 euros to 555 euros per 1,000 liters, or 0.555 euros per liter.
A second fee pays for the country's oil reserves for emergency needs, reserves that every EU country must maintain in case supplies are cut off. It is set at 91.26 euros per ton of oil products sold in Latvia, slightly less than 7 cents per liter of gasoline.
The 21% VAT adds €0.343.
In total, drivers in Latvia pay 0.96 euros in tax per liter, according to data presented last week.
- Estonia: €0.963 per liter
Estonia applies an excise duty of 0.593 euros per liter, after increasing fuel duties in May 2025. When prices rose this spring, Tallinn decided to postpone a further increase planned for May 2026.
There is no other fuel tax. The 24% VAT adds €0.370.
This brings the Estonian tax bill to 0.963 euros for every liter, almost exactly half of the pump price of 1.914 euros.
- Portugal: €0.978 per liter
The main fuel tax in Portugal, known as ISP, was 0.432 euros per liter in the week of September 14. It includes the previous road service contribution, which still amounts to 8.7 cents per liter of gasoline.
The ISP is reduced by a temporary discount. It applies when prices rise more than 10 cents above early March levels and refunds drivers the additional VAT collected by the state.
A carbon tax adds 0.159 euros per liter in 2026, and the 23% VAT adds €0.387.
Collected together, the three fees amounted to 0.978 euros per liter, according to the latest Commission bulletin.
- Italy: €1.049 per liter
Italy applies an excise duty of 0.673 euros per liter. Gasoline and diesel have had the same rate since January, as the government reduced the price of gasoline by 4.05 cents and increased the price of diesel by the same amount.
Rome has lowered the price of diesel several times since the end of July to mitigate rising prices.
Gasoline has not seen any reductions. The 22% VAT adds €0.376.
The Italian state collected 1.049 euros for every liter sold, slightly more than half of the pump price of 2.084 euros.
- France: €1.052 per liter
France's gasoline excise duty, formerly TICPE, has been 0.690 euros per liter since March 1. The 20% VAT adds €0.362.
French drivers handed over 1.052 euros in tax for every liter.
- Greece: €1.133 per liter
Greece applies an excise duty of 0.70 euros per liter for unleaded gasoline.
Two small taxes, both calculated as a percentage of the price, add about 1.5 cents: a customs processing fee and a contribution to a special oil account. The 24% VAT adds €0.418.
The total reached 1.133 euros per liter, or 52.5% of the pump price, the largest share in the top 10 countries.
- Germany: €1.179 per liter
The energy tax on gasoline in Germany is a fixed 65.45 cents per liter. Berlin temporarily lowered it by 14.04 cents from May 1 to June 30 due to the war, but the full rate has returned.
A carbon price adds about 0.148 euros per liter. Since January, CO2 certificates for fossil fuels have been auctioned within a corridor of 55 to 65 euros per ton. The 19% VAT, one of the lowest rates in the bloc, adds €0.376.
The energy tax, carbon price, and VAT together amounted to 1.179 euros per liter, about half of what German drivers paid at the pump.
- Finland: €1.193 per liter
Finland's fuel tax of 0.722 euros per liter has three parts: a tax on the energy content of the fuel, a CO2 tax, and a small fee for supply security.
In January, Helsinki lowered the carbon value used to calculate the CO2 tax from 62 euros to 56.8 euros per ton.
VAT is where Finland stands out. Its 25.5% rate is the second highest in the EU after Hungary's 27%, and adds €0.471 per liter.
Taken together, Finnish taxes amounted to 1.193 euros per liter, according to the latest Commission data.
- Denmark: €1.230 per liter
Denmark has the most expensive gasoline in the EU, at 2.564 euros per liter, but it is not the country that pays the most in taxes.
Fuel taxes total 5.36 Danish kroner per liter before VAT, about 0.717 euros.
They consist of an energy tax, a CO2 tax, and a nitrogen oxide tax, with the CO2 portion alone being 1.86 kroner. The 25% VAT is applied to a high pre-tax price of 1.334 euros. It adds €0.513 per liter, the largest amount of VAT in the EU.
This brings the Danish tax bill to 1.230 euros per liter, second only to the Netherlands.
- Netherlands: €1.270 per liter
No EU country collects more tax on a liter of gasoline than the Netherlands. The Dutch excise duty on gasoline is 844.69 euros per 1,000 liters in 2026, the highest in the bloc. A tax that finances national oil reserves adds 0.8 cents. The 21% VAT adds €0.422.
Every liter of gasoline sold in the Netherlands had 1.270 euros in tax last week, 52% of the pump price of 2.434 euros.
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