Flemish and foreign truck transport has already generated 565 million euros in kilometer taxes this year – 21 million more than last year and 35 million more than in 2021.

Together, all trucks covered 3,3 billion kilometers. In addition to the revenue from the levy itself, there were 12 million euros in fines, bringing the total revenue for the treasury to 577 million euros.

Truck Driver Day

Every second Thursday of December is Truck Driver Day – this year, it was on Thursday, December 14th. The reason for the Flemish Minister of Finance and Budget, Matthias Diependaele (N-VA), to visit the Flemish Public Interest Service.

During a truck inspection, several technical requirements are examined, such as lighting, chassis, and kilometer tax.

OBU

Owners of particular trucks must pay a kilometer charge for using the highways and most regional and municipal roads in Belgium. The tax is calculated by an ‘On Board Unit’ (OBU), which records kilometers driven. The OBU must always be switched on when a toll truck drives on public roads in Belgium, so, not just on toll roads.

According to the Flemish Minister of Finance and Budget, Matthias Diependaele (N-VA), the checks not only remove unsafe trucks from the road, but the kilometer charge also constitutes “a more important source of income for the Flemish treasury”.