The municipal council of Molenbeek Saint-Jean has approved the introduction of a tax on automated checkouts. It will amount to 5,600 euros in 2022 per automatic pay station. This is a first in Belgium.
An automatic cash register is a device that ensures the process of taking charge of the goods by the customer himself by scanning operations of the items purchased until payment for them.
“It has consequences on the work itself”
“This is a strong act by our municipality in order to make all the economic actors of the municipality contribute in a proportionate way. This has consequences on the work itself, since it is the consumer who is invited to carry out some of the tasks previously carried out by employees. Moreover, it is undeniable that these measures put in place exclusively by large surfaces have an impact on social cohesion, in neighborhoods where there are many seniors, given lack of contact between customers and workers”, commented the mayor of Molenbeek, Catherine Moureaux (PS), in a press release.
“We have also created a tax on professional film shoots”
According to Alderman of Finance, Georges Van Leeckwyck (MR), in a difficult budgetary context, the municipality has diversified its resource possibilities. “This new tax is part of this approach. We have also created a tax on the shooting of professional films and reformed the tax on advertisements in the public space”he added.