In the 1930s the cost of petrol produced at IG Farben’s Leuna plant was 15–17 Pfennigs per litre, implying a price of at least 30 Pfennigs per litre at the petrol pump. A tax on imported fuel was therefore indispensable to sustaining the momentum of the synthetic fuel programme. But, as the pressure on the Reich’s finances mounted in the course of the 1930s, this strategic imperative was combined with the more obvious needs of the Reich Finance Ministry. Taxes on imported oil were a significant source of revenue, bringing in 421 million Reichsmarks in 1936, a third of the total customs revenue
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