One in five Walloons don’t pay their road tax

Some 20% of Walloon car owners do not pay road tax on their vehicle, leading to a significant shortfall in revenue for the region, the Sudpresse newspapers report today. Minister of the Budget André Antoine has just had a €1m plan approved, which will cover the recruitment of twenty agents as well as the purchase of a dozen vehicles equipped with number plate scanners. "The number of Walloons who pay the road tax is down,” says Antoine. "This is partly the fault of the federal government, which is supposed to collect the tax on behalf of the regions, but  isn’t interested.” Collecting the road tax will be the remit of the regions as of next January. The tax represents an income of €560m towards the regional budget. Pursuing road tax avoiders is expected to net the Walloon region €25m in 2014 and the same amount in 2015.