MR. EDITOR:
The truckers' strike over the diesel price increase deserves a prior clarification. The specific fuel tax is not just any tax. Like those on tobacco and alcohol, it is a corrective tax: it taxes a consumption that causes harm to third parties — pollution, congestion, accidents — and that the price alone does not capture. It is not VAT. It corrects a market failure, and asking for its elimination is asking that someone else pay for that harm.
Then there is the cost. Containing prices has already meant some 1.2 billion dollars, and with the government's proposal, the bill could approach 2 billion. Today the Treasury contributes nearly 170 pesos per liter of diesel. These are resources that do not reach health, education, or pensions — needs that are also waiting.
It is true that more expensive freight ends up in prices and we all pay for it. But the subsidy is also paid by all of us; only the bill arrives by another route.
Fuels are expensive all over the world and Chile is no exception. Accepting this requires prudence and flexibility on both sides, without taking extreme positions. Nor does it help to pile onto the same vehicle demands of another nature, such as those of the No Más TAG movement. The toll is the price of a service that allows for better roads, and that discussion is a different one.
Nothing is free. What is not paid at the gas pump is paid elsewhere.
Carlos Smith C.
Research Professor, CIES UDD
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Santiago, November 11, 2026.
Truckers' strike at various points in the Metropolitan Region due to the rise in fuel prices
Lo Herrera sector in San Bernardo
Diego Martin/Aton Chile DIEGO MARTIN/ATON CHILE Comments
DEAR DIRECTOR:
The truckers' strike over the diesel price increase deserves a prior clarification. The specific tax on fuels is not just any tax. Like those on tobacco and alcohol, it is a corrective tax: it taxes a consumption that causes harm to third parties — pollution, congestion, accidents — and that the price alone does not capture. It is not VAT. It corrects a market failure, and asking for its elimination is asking that someone else pay for that damage.
Then there is the cost. Containing prices has already meant some 1.2 billion dollars, and with the government's proposal, the bill could approach 2 billion. Today the Treasury contributes close to $170 for every liter of diesel. These are resources that do not go to health, education, or pensions — needs that are also waiting.
It is true that more expensive freight ends up in prices and we all pay for it. But the subsidy is also paid by all of us; only the bill arrives by another route. Fuels are expensive all over the world and Chile is no exception. Accepting this requires prudence and flexibility on both sides, without taking extreme positions. Nor does it help to pile onto the same truck demands of another nature, such as those of the No Más TAG movement. The toll is the price of a service that allows for better roads, and that discussion is different.
Nothing is free. What is not paid at the gas pump is paid somewhere else.
Carlos Smith C.
Research professor, CIES UDD
More about: Diesel — Truckers' strike — Specific tax