Better to avoid the Alsatian motorways on Monday, a snail operation is planned between Mulhouse and Strasbourg to protest against a heavy goods vehicle tax which should see the light of day in 2027.
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It is a project of the European Community of Alsace which brings together the departments of Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin. A tax that the interdepartmental structure intends to impose on heavy goods vehicles weighing more than three and a half tonnes on the A35 motorway, the axis which crosses the region from north to south. For the moment it is only a project, certainly well advanced, but its implementation must still be voted on on October 21. This project worries economic players, starting with the transport sector, which is calling for demonstrations on Monday October 7.
This is a toll that trucks will have to pay depending on the distance traveled. The objective is to lighten the roads and rebalance heavy goods vehicle transit traffic. The situation is special. Due to onerous taxes on German roads, a large flow of trucks makes the detour via Alsace to avoid paying across the Rhine. Traffic is thus transferred to the A35 and neighboring roads. Since the last increase in the fee on the German side at the end of 2023, the Alsace region has recorded an increase of almost 20% in the number of heavy goods vehicles in circulation on its main roads. A peak of 30% was even noted in August.
The final amount has not yet been decided and a new meeting must be held on Monday between the various stakeholders and elected officials to address the subject, among others. The sum of 15 cents per kilometer is mentioned, where the German tax is three to four times higher. In France, the future Alsatian royalty could bring in up to 64 million euros per year.
All economic actors. All highlight the possible impact on the purchasing power of the consumer with a postponement of this new tax on the products sold. A very delicate situation for the public authorities in the midst of a debate on taxation to reduce deficits, but also for the government which does not want to see the reappearance of the “red bonnets” movement, born in 2013 in Brittany against a previous ecotax project national.