Tax can be interesting….

TPS Skills Director, Keith Buchan, is involved in a new venture to investigate how the tax system might be changed, sometimes in small ways, to support sustainable transport.  He has been awarded a grant from the Foundation for Integrated Transport (FIT) to develop the idea.

Prior to 2019 there had been a voluntary ad hoc group of transport planners, academics, and different interest groups dealing with this topic - the Transport Taxation Group. This was chaired by Alastair Hanton (inventor inter alia of the Direct Debit). Keith was an active member and is seeking to revive and develop the group to stimulate research and debate but also to put more specific proposals on the table. We are also planning to provide topics ideas for academic research projects. As an example the previous group did a lot of work on how company car taxation could lead the new vehicle market and the changes which were adopted have gone some way to encourage the uptake of less polluting vehicles and significantly influence the second hand market.

There's a lot of work already public but bringing some of it together may of itself be beneficial and the focus will be technical and practical. Transparency and clarity will be important for public involvement and understanding.  There is an initial website on https://transportfiscal.org.uk/ where work will be posted during 2025.

It is an informal group so participation can be public or private. 

If you are interested in participating or just have a transport tax anomaly that you would really like to see fixed, please contact Keith on keithbuchan@transportfiscal.org.uk