The New Transport Taxation Group

Our aim is to explore tax and charging systems to achieve sustainable transport outcomes at minimal cost. Potential revenue allocation will be critical to understanding the impact of any change and the personal level as well as national and local. We are supported by the Foundation for Integrated Transport Society and the Transport Planning Society.

Our project restarts the original Transport taxation group led by Alistair Hanton and we are currently (2025) creating a network and gathering ideas for our programme. We are looking at a much wider field of interest than specifics like road user charging. There is a lot else that can be done and this has sometimes distracted from other issues and ways to make progress. We have had suggestions already for exploring how creative initiatives on sustainable travel can get caught out by tax and VAT rules. Current vehicle purchase methods and finance may sometimes encourage low sustainability options rather than encouraging them. Taxes applied to aviation are complicated and messy. Goods vehicles have major environmantal consequences as well as economic value but receive far less attention than passenger transport.

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