Taxi drivers to lose tax relief on fuel in the Autumn Statement 2016

Rumour has it that private taxi drivers will no longer be able to offset fuel costs as an expense against their income, thus preventing them from getting unfair tax relief on their fuel.

The Treasury initiative is designed to “level the playing field” with private motorists who have to pay for fuel out of their taxed income.

The drivers and businesses affected have said that fares will increase but one Councillor called them snivelling parasites, preying on tourists and old folk who do not have a vehicle of their own. He said “Taxi drivers are not really a business anyway, they just drive cars, why should they get tax relief on their fuel when other car owners don’t?”

A Geography graduate who first suggested the policy to The Green Party said “getting taxi’s off the road will be good for the environment and traffic congestion whilst making it far safer for people to bike into work.”

J Corbynski, regarded as a complete pillock by most of his left wing colleagues, said “I see this as a perfect opportunity to raise tax from wealthy taxi drivers so that we can pump more money into improving public transport”.

A member of The Landlords Union drew similarities between the policy and the changes George Osborne made in his 2015 Summer Budget to finance costs, which will no longer be treated as a legitimate business expense for private landlords . He said “did anybody really expect the government to stop at taxing only private landlords in this underhanded way?”

Government officials have denied all allegations that they are effectively sacrificing small businesses for the sake of attracting further investment into corporate operators who just so happen to make large donations to their party at election time. They went on to say that grant funding recently announced for corporate operators are a complete coincidence and exist only to improve the transport problems facing the UK population due to its continued growth, particularly in the capital.

A major accountancy body has pointed out that corporate taxi firms will not be affected and that they expect their members to be dealing with several enquiries regarding incorporation. They said “this is nothing like incorporation for landlords as taxi drivers will not be affected by increased Stamp Duty rates and capital gains tax is unlikely to be an issue for them on the basis that their core assets (vehicles) tend to depreciate whereas residential properties owned by landlords generally increase in value over the longer term.”

Media commentators have suggested that taxi fares will rise affecting old folk in rural locations.  The Governments response was that they doubted that very much on the basis that only 1 in 5 taxi businesses would be affected. They were unable to produce figures to substantiate that claim.

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