Brussels can continue with a lean kilometer charge
In an advice from the Council of State that Brussels is autonomously competent to introduce a lean kilometer charge, but he does insist on further consultations with Flanders and Wallonia.
The Council of State has passed a Solomonic verdict in the saga surrounding the slim kilometer charge in the Brussels-Capital Region. According to the Council, Brussels can introduce the tax on 1 January 2022 without discriminating against the other regions.
Flanders and Wallonia discussed it. Just like the inhabitants of Brussels, they have to pay the kilometer charge in Brussels. But they also have to continue to pay the road tax, the people of Brussels plan to get an exemption.
However, according to the Council, ‘the Brussels-Capital Region can justify a difference in treatment with the fact that the other regions do not agree with a reform in the sense indicated.’ They immediately add the nuance that ‘the Brussels-Capital Region must do everything it can to reach a cooperation agreement that can prevent possible discriminatory situations from being limited’.
The Brussels Region must do everything in its power to reach a cooperation agreement, in which discriminatory situations can possibly occur but are nevertheless limited.
With regard to the exemption from the road tax for the inhabitants of Brussels, the Council is therefore pressing for a cooperation agreement with the regions. “Purely legal, it means that we can introduce the tax on January 1, 2022, because it is actually entirely with Brussels,” says Pieterjan Desmet, the claim of Brussels Minister of Mobility Elke Van den Brandt (Green).
‘But that does not mean that we will by definition do that,’ says Desmet. ‘We are going for a cooperation agreement with the regions, where we can certainly see that the spirits are maturing in Flanders.’ In any case, the Brussels government must first arrive at a joint position. Desmet expects more clarity there in two weeks.