Corona: truck toll brings almost 300 million euros less than planned

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The word “Maut” got a bad sound in Germany from Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU).

User financing can be fair and ecologically sensible.

Anyone who wears down roads more often with heavier vehicles and produces more air pollutants and noise has to pay more - as is the case with the truck toll.

However, this also means that if the roads are used less, less money flows.

It was like that in 2020. In the first year of the corona pandemic, the mileage of vehicles subject to tolls from 7.5 tons in Germany fell.

This reduced federal revenue from the truck toll.

They were 291 million euros below the value that was planned in the 2020 federal budget.

This emerges from a response by the federal government to a request for a report from the Green budget politician Sven-Christian Kindler.

According to the answer provided by WELT, the total number of toll truck kilometers driven decreased by around 550 million to 40.26 billion compared to the previous year.

That meant hardly less money at first: Toll sales decreased by just 8.6 million euros to 7.39 billion.

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But before the pandemic, the ministry had expected a strong increase in mileage and income.

Because there was a decline instead, there is 291 million euros less than budgeted.

The decline was less severe than expected

According to the ministry's listing, the largest declines were in April and May 2020.

Since the truck mileage fell compared to the two months of the previous year by around 14 percent.

This shows how much the spring lockdown affected the economy.

No declines, however, but rather increases, conversely, were recorded for the first few months of the winter lockdown.

Near Frankfurt (Oder): A truck passes a control point to record the truck toll on federal highway 87

Source: pa / dpa

In November, 3.2 percent more kilometers were driven than in the same month last year.

And in December, the increases in mileage and toll revenues even amounted to a good eleven percent compared to December 2019. This shows that at least parts of the economy were not affected by the protective measures of the winter.

This is also the reason why the overall shortfall in income is lower than forecast in early summer.

At that time, a deficit of up to 600 million euros was expected for the entire year.

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It is unlikely that the growth in December could be attributed to the boom in online trading during the Corona times.

Because if the shops had been open, their articles would also have had to be transported by truck.

In addition, some of the vehicles used by online retailers do not play a role in the toll balance: Small trucks between 3.5 and 7.49 tonnes, which often drive on federal roads or highways when delivering parcels, are toll-free.

Another point is noteworthy: the sum of the amount actually usable in the federal budget has increased compared to 2019.

"The budget-relevant toll revenues were around 62.24 million euros higher than the toll revenues in 2019," writes the ministry.

That means: In total, a little less was taken in 2020 than in 2019 - and much less than expected.

But the state can use more of the money actually received than in the previous year.

The system of toll collection seems to have become more efficient and meanwhile cause fewer ancillary costs that are of no use to the household.

Greens: "Pointless projects to the test"

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The question that remains is what it means for federal road construction plans if truck toll revenues are almost 300 million lower than budgeted.

A closed financial cycle is enshrined in law in Germany: the toll funds flow back into the road network.

According to the principle that higher usage requires higher investment.

But what follows from a decline in usage?

Kindler von den Grünen believes that it would be wrong to settle the 2020 difference between the expected and actual toll income from general tax revenues.

Instead, savings should be made in road construction.

It “would be advisable to put pointless road construction projects to the test,” said Kindler WELT and accused the Union and the SPD of having “shirked” before that.

"Alternatively, Transport Minister Scheuer could simply increase the truck toll this year and extend it to all vehicles from 3.5 tons."

Green budget politician Sven-Christian Kindler

Source: pa / dpa / Hauke-Christian Dittrich

This would offset the declining toll income as a result of the corona pandemic and "would be good for the climate," says Kindler.

“Then finally all the small vans on the autobahns and federal highways that have previously used the roads free of charge will be tolled.

To this day, the federal government is losing hundreds of millions of euros every year due to this toll gap. "

In addition, however, the Green politician calls for a move away from that closed financial cycle, in which the income from the road tolls from trucks is used exclusively for the roads they use.

"The money from the truck toll should no longer just end up in the budget for road construction," demands Kindler.

"The income from the truck toll is better off with climate-friendly rail, bicycle traffic and the waterway."

Because Germany already has the densest road network in all of Europe, the country “no longer needs any new roads”. Instead, what is needed is “a moratorium on climate policy on road construction”.