Belgium at work to radically change the mobility culture with an ambitious plan
by Emanuele Bonini
The green revolution is ready. Belgian authorities are rethinking the national taxation policy, shifting taxes from car property to its use. It would be a legal way of imposing a carbon tax in order to reduce pollution and boost the public transport services provided by local administrations. Taxation per kilometres rather than road tax is the answer for the kingdom of Belgium according to the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB), the only multi-sector employer organisation representing companies in Belgium’s three region. There is «the need of taxing car use rather than its possession», FEB wrote in its plan for mobility. Together with a new taxation policy, the set of proposals asked for «the improvement of public transport». Furthermore, it is foreseen a special «budget for mobility». In practice it means employers will stop offering company cars but, on the contrary, they offer an amount of money to spend to move in and out the city leaving the employees the choice of the solution the consider as the best to travel. «It's time to act», stated the FEB chief executive officer, Pieter Timmermans. «The mobility problems affect our economy», he added. FEB estimated that only in Belgium every year 51 hours are wasted in traffic, with a total economic loss of nearly 9 billion Euro. Possible solutions have now been set and put on the table. It's to politics to decide about, but a the impression is Belgium is preparing a green revolution for a more sustainable transport system. We will see.
The green revolution is ready. Belgian authorities are rethinking the national taxation policy, shifting taxes from car property to its use. It would be a legal way of imposing a carbon tax in order to reduce pollution and boost the public transport services provided by local administrations. Taxation per kilometres rather than road tax is the answer for the kingdom of Belgium according to the Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB), the only multi-sector employer organisation representing companies in Belgium’s three region. There is «the need of taxing car use rather than its possession», FEB wrote in its plan for mobility. Together with a new taxation policy, the set of proposals asked for «the improvement of public transport». Furthermore, it is foreseen a special «budget for mobility». In practice it means employers will stop offering company cars but, on the contrary, they offer an amount of money to spend to move in and out the city leaving the employees the choice of the solution the consider as the best to travel. «It's time to act», stated the FEB chief executive officer, Pieter Timmermans. «The mobility problems affect our economy», he added. FEB estimated that only in Belgium every year 51 hours are wasted in traffic, with a total economic loss of nearly 9 billion Euro. Possible solutions have now been set and put on the table. It's to politics to decide about, but a the impression is Belgium is preparing a green revolution for a more sustainable transport system. We will see.
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