Capping rail fares at HMRC tax claim limits for private cars

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Bus fares up to 75p per mile (Trowbridge to Melksham single) and train fares up to 86p per mile (Melksham to Paddington single).  And yet the taxman only allows you to claim 45p per mile, dropping to 25p per mile after 10,000 miles when you use your own vehicle.

Transport as a service - Jeremy Corbyn suggsted this week that bus fares should be capped at the same rate that HMRC uses for private vehicle mileage claims, and perhaps that idea has some merit in keeping the cost of transport to manageable levels. For sure, "ooze gonna pay4 it?", but wasn't something similar done in Victorian times, with a fare not to exceed 1d per mile on at least on train per day on all lines? 

Currently, HMRC states that you can claim 45p per mile (up to 10,000 miles, after which the rate drops to 25p) if you drive a car or a van, 24p for a motorcycle and 20p for a bicycle. If your employer pays you less than this, you can get your tax back on the difference.

[TaplowGreen]

Bus fares up to 75p per mile (Trowbridge to Melksham single) and train fares up to 86p per mile (Melksham to Paddington single).  And yet the taxman only allows you to claim 45p per mile, dropping to 25p per mile after 10,000 miles when you use your own vehicle.

Transport as a service - Jeremy Corbyn suggsted this week that bus fares should be capped at the same rate that HMRC uses for private vehicle mileage claims, and perhaps that idea has some merit in keeping the cost of transport to manageable levels. For sure, "ooze gonna pay4 it?", but wasn't something similar done in Victorian times, with a fare not to exceed 1d per mile on at least on train per day on all lines? 

Currently, HMRC states that you can claim 45p per mile (up to 10,000 miles, after which the rate drops to 25p) if you drive a car or a van, 24p for a motorcycle and 20p for a bicycle. If your employer pays you less than this, you can get your tax back on the difference.

Jeremy will sort it once he's elected, everything will be nationalised, trains, buses, whatever you want, you can have it and we will move forward into broad, sunlit, uplands with equally broad smiles on our faces.


(oooooooooo Jeremy Corbyn.........ooooooooooos gunna pay for it?) 

[LiskeardRich]

The fact it’s possible to claim 20p a mile for a bicycle surprises me. I suppose something needs to fund the Lycra!

[ellendune]

The 45p per mile HMRC rate has not changed in over a decade. If rail fares were capped at the HMRC rate perhaps treasury would raise it?

[grahame]

The Guardian on the subject of bus travel outside London and the significant issues it has (such as limited routes, limited frequency, high per-mile fares, short days, complex fare arrangements, lack of inter-public-transport connectivity and poor information) points out that it's hard for those who govern it to understand the issues.

It is an obvious point that a profession so dominated by the privileged is going to struggle to understand issues that do not resonate with their lived experiences. Like bus travel outside London. And when such issues are raised, rather than doing their job, they pour scorn at something they do not deem relevant. Until that changes – until we have a national media that is representative of region, class, gender, sexuality, race and religion – then this critical institution will remain out of touch on issues that concern millions of people. The media thought buses were indicative of Corbyn’s own failures. Instead, they merely exposed their own.