Status: 10.11.2022 12:38 p.m
The truck toll is increasing, and vehicles over 3.5 tons should also pay. The traffic light coalition has agreed on this. There was a dispute about the use of the additional income.
The traffic light coalition has reached an agreement in the dispute over the truck toll. The parliamentary groups have agreed that a toll reform will take effect on January 1, 2024. These include extending the truck toll to vehicles over 3.5 tons and a CO2 toll.
So far, the truck toll applies from 7.5 tons. As agreed in the coalition agreement, the additional income is to be used for mobility across all modes of transport. This means that a planned draft law by the Ministry of Transport with an adjustment of the toll rates from 2023 is to be accepted without change. A special session of the Bundestag’s Transport Committee is planned for Friday.
Dispute over the use of the additional income
The FDP had accused the Greens of blocking the toll adjustment. The draft by the Ministry of Transport stipulates that the truck toll should increase at the beginning of 2023. It is about an amendment to the Federal Highway Toll Act. The background is EU requirements and a new road cost report.
The Greens transport politician Matthias Gastel said it was important for the Greens that the money from the truck toll was not exclusively used for new roads. There is still a lack of money for rail transport and waterways. The truck toll was introduced in Germany in 2005 on the federal motorways and has since been extended to all federal roads. It generates billions in revenue.