According to Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters, the question is not whether a smart kilometer rate for passenger cars should be introduced, but when it will be introduced. For the Open Vld minister it is a “territorial mileage rate linked to a fiscal shift”, she says in response to the figures on growing traffic jams. In the meantime, a study has also been launched for the extension and greening of the kilometer rate for trucks.
Data from the Flemish Traffic Center shows that the last month of October October was the second heaviest month in terms of congestion since 2011, the start date of the official Traffic Center surveys.
LOOK. In October 2022 we were in more traffic jams than in the corona period. Peter Bruyninckx of the Flemish Traffic Center explains why
Responding to these rising figures, Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters says ‘we need to make our kilometers greener and move them’. In terms of greening, the electrification of the vehicle fleet “is going in the right direction,” she says. In terms of travel, the Open Vld aims to encourage companies in the logistics sector to use inland waterways or rail as an alternative to freight transport.
trucking
Furthermore, the minister also wants to do something about the classic “wall of trucks on the highways”. “He has to go,” he says. On the issue of ‘vanishing’, Minister Peeters refers to the kilometer charge for vans. “In the meantime, on my initiative, a study has been launched to extend the kilometer rate for trucks to vans,” says the Flemish minister.
One proviso is that it is a tax shift, not a tax increase
Minister Peeters will also once again address the sensitive debate on smart kilometer charging for cars. The previous Flemish government commissioned a study on the possible introduction of such a tax. But even before the consortium could complete its research, then Flemish Minister of Mobility Ben Weyts (N-VA) changed his mind and plans for a kilometer rate ended up in the wastepaper bin. Not even the current government’s coalition agreement provides for road tolls.
The tax will therefore not be introduced during this parliamentary term, but Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters has already spoken out several times in favor of such an intelligent kilometer tax, but then under certain conditions.
The Liberal minister now repeats that message: “It has to be an area-wide smart per-kilometre charge linked to a tax shift. We focus on the use of the vehicle instead of ownership (current road taxes are shifting to vehicle use taxes). One proviso is that it is a tax shift, not a tax increase. In short: the question is not whether the intelligent and territorial kilometer tariff linked to the shifting of taxes will be introduced, but when», concludes Peeters.
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