ATHENS – With Europe’s sixth-highest price for gasoline – the equivalent of $8.53 a gallon – the cost has become too high for many drivers in Greece who are expected, by the thousands, to take their cars off the road.

Finance Ministry officials gave that estimate, said Kathimerini, as the price for gasoline has soared out of control for electricity and with fuel oil prices jumping, bringing a triple-whammy as the winter soon approaches.

Fewer cars on the road mean less tax revenues and ministry officials said they think more drivers will also in March, 2022 when the option may become available, to pay their annual road fees by the month instead.

The road tax notices for the whole of 2022 will be uploaded on the website of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue and will not have any changes compared to the 2021 tax, the paper also said.

Gasoline on the average costs 1.67 euros ($1.88) per liter which is more than twice as expensive as the average in the United States.