(pictured above is the LKW/truck electronic toll system introduced a few years ago. IF a truck passes without the proper electronic gear or insufficient funds on their "toll card" the driver's picture will be taken along with the trucks license plate and a ticket issued to the driver and owner of the truck).
The German's have been talking about taxing the Autobahns for quite some time now(for many years). Looks like there is sufficient momentum for this "road toll" to become German Law soon - this year. IF passed the new "tax" would start on Jan 1st, 2016.
The Dutch and Austrian's will fight this out in the EU courts though. German drivers of cars will have to buy a Vignette, but the taxes on their cars due when you renew your tags will go down to offset this Vignette tax/costs. This is how the German government (plans to)get around the "foreigner road tax" so to not upset the EU courts.
The the German plan is to charge a toll (€100 or so per year for a Vignette) and you must display a vignette(windshield sticker/decal), much like system used Austria or in Switzerland. The German system differs in that, German plated cars will have to buy a Vignette/tax but they will pay a LOWER yearly road tax for their license plates(yearly tax) - that is how the politicians are trying to "sell" this new tax.
German government plans to reduce the yearly road tax for Germans(paid for their license plates/registration, normally several hundreds of euros each year, depending on engine size/and how efficient it is, commission standards), since this new "toll road tax" will be a huge windfall for the German government. Some news reports say 600 million euros, some reports say it will be over 2 billion euros!! It will be a lot of money that's for sure - going to the German tax man.
The new "toll" will be to travel ANY and ALL roads in Germany. Looks like Rental cars would also have to pay this tax. We shall see what parts of the "plan" become law. ?
Dackel
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New York Times...
By ALISON SMALE JULY 7, 2014
BERLIN — The German government announced plans on Monday to charge a road-use fee on all cars using roads and highways in Germany, a measure aimed at the foreign-registered cars that make an estimated 170 million trips to and through the country each year.
Grappling with decaying infrastructure, particularly in densely populated areas of western Germany, the government brushed aside criticism that the measure was too sweeping or violated European Union norms.
Alexander Dobrindt, the transport minister, designated the new toll an “infrastructure levy,” which he said would add 2.5 billion euros, or $3.4 billion, over a four-year period to the funds available for road repair and construction.
He said foreigners would be able to buy 10-day road-use passes for €10 and two-month passes for €20. Mr. Dobrindt added that no foreigner could expect to pay more than €100 every 12 months.
The charge for a whole year — most likely to apply to German-registered vehicles — would vary according to the size and age of the car, he said.
Germans will be compensated for the new road-use fee through reductions in the current vehicle tax, Mr. Dobrindt said, and “will not pay more than they do today.” The goal is to have the new fee in place by Jan. 1, 2016.
To German voters, car ownership and the ability to drive at unlimited speed on some stretches of highway are considered among the most sensitive and sacrosanct privileges.
There is already a toll on trucks, which will continue. The heavy truck traffic crisscrossing Germany is widely blamed for much of the damage to its highways and roads.
In Germany’s west, roads and bridges have fallen into disrepair over the two decades since unification, while billions of euros have been spent on infrastructure in the more sparsely populated former East Germany.
Introducing measures to improve infrastructure and rectify this regional inequality was part of the coalition agreement that Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Party reached with the center-left Social Democrats when they formed a government last November.
One of the few arguments that rippled through Ms. Merkel’s election campaign last year was a fight with the Christian Democrats’ sister party, the Christian Social Union, over its insistence on introducing a highway toll. The chancellor said she would never support such a measure.
Technically speaking, Ms. Merkel has kept her promise because the new measure is a fee on the use of any road, and not just the dense network of autobahns, or highways, which are a vital and much-used part of Europe’s network of land transport.
Critics were swift to argue that the proposal would discriminate against Poles, Czechs, Austrians, Swiss, Dutch and other neighbors by effectively making those living near the border pay a charge for crossing into Germany for regular errands or work, even if they did not use the highways.
Others said Mr. Dobrindt would face a challenge from the European Union. Germany would in effect be charging “an entry fee,” said Ulrich Klaus Becker, vice president of ADAC, the largest German association of car owners.
The proposal is certain to be the subject of lively debate before and during its passage through Parliament. Political wrangling will also intensify between the federal government and Germany’s 16 states, which have demanded a share of the new revenue.
Mr. Dobrindt raised no objections to that demand on Monday, but tussling over the amounts is likely, especially for states with heavy foreign traffic.
Members of the Greens party objected to the suggested toll, noting that it would in effect punish those who drive relatively little by requiring them to pay the same amount as heavy users of the nation’s roads.