Coalition party ChristenUnie has suggested introducing a new tax on package home deliveries, in an effort to help local shops and cut down on traffic.

MP Pieter Grinwis will present the idea during Wednesday’s debate on the government finances, RTL Nieuws reported. He says income generated by the tax could be used to help local firms which are struggling to compete against international chains.

‘Our small firms are losing out, our shopping streets are emptying and vans are continually making deliveries,’ he said. ‘This home delivery madness has to be reduced.’

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Reducing the number of home deliveries would also be better for the environment and for road safety, he said. If people would pick up packages themselves ‘we can also say farewell to all those cardboard boxes’, he told RTL Nieuws.