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Commuter cyclistGovernment should give tax breaks to people who take up cycling to work say Boardman and Storey
British Cycling’s policy adviser Chris Boardman and Britain’s most successful female paralympian Dame Sarah Storey have urged the government to introduce tax breaks of up to £250 per year for those who take up cycling to work.
The proposal, plus a suggestion that companies be offered tax incentives for investing in cycling, comes from Jolyon Maugham QC – one of the country’s top tax experts – on behalf of the #ChooseCycling network.
Just 2 per cent of Brits currently cycle regularly with annual government spend on cycling at below £1 per head. This compares with the Netherlands where cycling spend is currently at around £30 per head and around 30 per cent of trips are made by bike.
Boardman, said: “If more people cycled to work regularly the government would save millions on squeezed NHS budgets and our roads would be much less congested. That in itself would more than pay for a £250 tax break and would provide a real incentive for people to live more active lives.”
Storey said: “Britain’s businesses have woken up to the benefits that cycling can bring to their employees and it’s about time that the government followed suit.
"It’s only right that if a company invests heavily in providing high quality changing and bike storage facilities – things that will help our nation become healthier and fitter – that they should get a tax incentive for it.
"We want Britain to become a true cycling nation and we’ll only get there if we can get the government to be forward-thinking and to work in partnership with business.”
Maugham’s proposals are:
- A specific capital allowance for businesses which invest in facilities for cyclists (showers, bike parking etc) up to a cost of £100,000
- Tax breaks of up to £250 per year for people who take up cycling to work
- Extending the cycle to work scheme – enabling people to buy bicycles from untaxed income – to cover people who are self-employed
Maugham said: “The specific measures we’ve proposed tackle some of the key disincentives to cycling. They are innovative, cost-effective and will help deliver a number of the government’s key objectives.”
A recent survey of British Cycling’s #ChooseCycling network found that improving employee health and wellbeing was the top priority for businesses who invest in cycling facilities and promotion.
Two thirds of the firms viewed the promotion of cycling as more important now than in previous years, and there was a desire to do more to promote cycling to customers and service users.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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43 comments
Out here in the real world it already happens. I forget the exact rules but in Germany its something like any commute over 10k gets you a certain amount per kilometre. You declare how many days you cycled to work on your tax return. Like everything else on your tax return below a threshold they just take your word for it unless they decide to audit. Given the tax office know your home address and your employers address it wouldn't suprise me if something does a sanity check on your distance. They probably also know how many sick days and holidays you have as well but checking that might be giving them too much credit
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Jfparis gets two bites. Reel them in.
I think the government is very efficient. 1/30th of the Dutch cycling spend but 1/15th of the people cycling.
I think you are mixing up the stats here. 2% of Brits cycling regularly does not mean that 2% of trips are made by bike. Though this is a fault of the article using different groupings to try and prove a point but you can't analyse further or draw your conclusion on the data presented.
Not only would cyclists not paid road tax but also they would get a tax break????
This is really adding insult to injury !
What injury? Check the KSI stats - it's the other way around.
Wake up, Rip van Winkle. It's 2016, not 1937, when we last had road tax.
Cyclists already can get a tax break through the cycle to work scheme.
Oh and it's called Vehicle excise duty (VED) NOT road tax. The less CO2 your vehicle emits from it's exhaust the less you pay and some vehicles used on the road are exempt e.g. mobility scooters, lawn mowers, electric cars. While others e.g. horses, push bikes are exempt because they don't need to be registered.
I think you'll find it is called sarcasm
As others have pointed out VED is not 'road tax' but an emissions tax.
VED and fuel duty combined raise about £32Bn (2009 figures). According to the DFT the cost of reported road traffic accidents in the UK is £15.1Bn (2012 figures - estimated £34Bn if unreported accidents are taken into account)
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reported-road-casualties-grea...
So VED or 'road tax' doesn't even pay for the cost of accidents. Never mind the cost of roads, the direct costs to business arising from traffic jams, the costs of pollution and the costs to NHS from obese drivers.
Conclusion: Motorists don't pay for the roads.
Great stuff from Boardman as usual. Man's always ahead of the times.
Hang on, hang on. Incentivise cycling, maybe get some cars off the road and free up some space, make people healthier so reducing costs to the NHS ...
...Nah, it'll never happen
.
It's a catch 22 situation if you improve cycling infrastructure more people will cycle and less will use their cars. Seen it in my own area in the past few years. Then again it helps I live in a mini-Holland borough...
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