The House on Thursday approved the tax reduction on heating fuel, part of a relief package to tackle the cost of living unveiled in late September.

The tax on heating fuel will be cut by 5.3 cents a litre.

In voting the bill through, MPs also amended it, so that the discounted tax now kicks in as of October 23 instead of November 1.

The reduced rate will apply until April 30, 2027.

The government estimates the fiscal hit from loss of tax revenue at around €5.2 million.

In remarks on the House floor, all MPs agreed with the measure, but some argued that it was a case of too little, too late.

Alma MP Odysseas Michaelides noted that, practically speaking, heating fuel would now cost €1,600 a tonne – instead of €1,650.

He also recalled that only in March this year, a tonne cost €950.

Michaelides said the government should have also requested from the European Commission a further tax rate reduction for motor fuel, as it had done for heating oil.

Direct Democracy MP Yiannis Laouris called the measure a “stopgap solution”.

He said it’s inconceivable that energy should be taxed; rather, it should be classed as an essential item.

The government, he added, is raking in extra revenue from VAT, due to higher prices, and then giving out small relief “as charity”.

• Meta will give its investors free shares if Mark Zuckerberg hits certain "extraordinary" targets.
• It will pay 1:1 share dividends each time Meta stock doubles and has compounded at over 10% a year.
• Meta is rolling out Class C shares to address Zuckerberg's tax concerns and keep him in California.

Meta stockholders are set to receive free shares if Mark Zuckerberg absolutely crushes it as CEO.

The social-media giant revealed in a Wednesday filing that if its upcoming Class C shares double from a baseline price of $580.60 to just over $1,161, and their compound annualized return since September 10 has been at least 10%, shareholders will receive a dividend: a Class C share for every Meta share they own.

If Meta stock — specifically its 30-day volume-weighted average price — doubles again to around $2,322, and has risen by at least 10% on average per year, shareholders will receive the same dividend again, and so on.

Meta, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and the AI agent Muse, acknowledged how difficult it will be to unlock those dividends, describing the stock price targets as "extraordinary" in its filing.

Its stock has already surged more than sevenfold from its November 2022 low, giving Meta a nearly $1.8 trillion market capitalization that ranks it among the 10 most valuable companies in the world.

The additional dividends would be paid on top of the initial dividend declared by Meta's board on Wednesday, which will see Class A and Class B shareholders receive Class C shares on a 1:1 basis, likely in late January.

Meta is rejigging its share structure in response to Zuckerberg's concerns about California's so-called billionaire tax: a one-off, 5% wealth tax on the roughly 250 billionaires living in the state.

Zuckerberg, who ranked fifth on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a $247 billion net worth at Wednesday's close, will be able to sell the Class C shares to access the liquidity needed to pay the tax, avoiding a sale of his existing shares that would erode his voting power.

Meta's board took action after Zuckerberg said he was considering moving out of California because of the potential tax, and cautioned that the steps involved in relocating, such as listing his home for sale, could spark questions from employees about the company's management, the filing says.