A road toll scheme agreed last month by Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels came under heavy criticism on Tuesday from Flemish employers and trade unions.
Under the plan, all vehicles weighing less than 3.5 tonnes will have to pay a digital road sticker from 1 May 2027 to use regional roads and motorways. The annual charge will range from €90 to €125.
The three regions say the measure is intended to make foreign drivers contribute to the cost of using and maintaining the regional road network.
For Belgian taxpayers, Flanders and Wallonia have announced reforms to car taxation to avoid an overall increase in the tax burden, with exemptions or deductions planned in some cases.
In Flanders, the reform of the annual vehicle tax from 2027 will be based mainly on vehicle weight and CO2 emissions. Overall, the revised tax and the road sticker are expected to balance each other out, although there will still be winners and losers depending on individual circumstances.
In an opinion on the plans, the Social and Economic Council of Flanders (SERV) was sharply critical. It said the difference in cost between the road sticker for electric vehicles and for most fossil-fuel vehicles was too small, at €90 compared with €100 a year.
The council called this a missed opportunity to encourage a greener vehicle fleet and improve air quality. It also said the sticker would do nothing to cut congestion because it does not vary according to the time of travel.
On the reform of the annual road tax, SERV said it was surprising that lighter electric cars could in some cases pay more tax than a comparable petrol vehicle.
The council also warned that allowing motorists to choose between the current calculation method and the new one for their annual vehicle tax would create uncertainty over the revenue the measure is meant to raise.
Instead, it said, the lower rate should simply be applied to existing vehicles. That would reduce the administrative burden and help ensure that less well-informed taxpayers are not financially disadvantaged.
