Traffic this morning was disrupted all over Belgium after truck drivers installed roadblocks at exit roads and interchanges to protest against the new kilometer tax on trucks over 3.5 tonnes. With start 1 April, the kilometer tax is implemented in all regions of Belgium. The tax applies for heavy goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes. Registration for the new tax started on 1 October 2015.
Truck owners are required to install an electronic box that will allow satellite monitoring and charging by the kilometer. The tax rate depends on the maximum permissible weight of the trucks, their Euro emission class and the type of the road being used.
Today (5 April), the Association of Cities and Municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region (AVCP) applied to Brussels Minister of Mobility Pascal Smet and requested an exemption from the kilometer tax.
According to the association, the tax will have "direct and important financial consequences for the municipalities, especially those with a large fleet of trucks”. Vehicles used for public tasks (waste collection, road maintenance, etc) should therefore be exempted from the tax.
Furthermore, AVCP also claims that part of the tax revenues should be allocated to the maintenance and modernization of the road network which suffers from the regular passage of heavy traffic.
Federal traffic police reported that roadblocks were still in place at several places in Wallonia on Tuesday evening (5 April) by truck drivers protesting against the introduction of the kilometer tax.
The Brussels Times (Source: Belga)
