Commuting and border traffic

For over a century commuters have been shuttling to-and-fro across the Belgian-Luxemburg border. On any given weekday, there will be more than 3000 Belgian cars en-route for Luxemburg. Higher wages and better jobs are important factors. But fuel-tank tourism puts these in the shade. Thanks to far lower prices (by 15-25%), fuel stations close to the border draw their motorized neighbours across the frontier like fruit-flies to a banana, to the delight of the Luxemburg Finance Minister who hears the jingle of 700 million Euros in taxes (that’s about 2 million per day!) dropping into his coffers each year. His colleague the Environment Minister is less pleased, as 75% of Luxemburg’s greenhouse gas emissions can be put down to fuel sales to pump tourists and transit traffic. Read more...