In the EU, a mechanism has become established that artificially restricts and drives up the cost of energy in order to tax it more effectively afterward. The reason is the systematic tax rip-off by the German Treasury. Germany is, after all, a frontrunner in this area -- up to 55 percent of the price of gas flows from the pump into state coffers. In this way, a kind of cost-push inflation is generated, which initially expands the nominal tax base. The absolute levies become higher the more costs regulatory policy has already generated in logistics at the company level – costs that later have to be passed on to the end consumer.