Drivers of cars with no passengers should be taxed and there should also be a tax on graduate earnings.
These are the two leading suggestions from the winners of this year’s national Fantasy Budget Competition 2003, organised by Bournemouth University with support from The Chartered Institute of Taxation, CIOT.
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Drivers of cars with no passengers should be taxed and there should also be a tax on graduate earnings.
These are the two leading suggestions from the winners of this year’s national Fantasy Budget Competition 2003, organised by Bournemouth University with support from The Chartered Institute of Taxation, CIOT.
A-level students at Poole Grammar School, Poole, came up with idea of discouraging single occupancy of cars, while GCSE pupils at William de Ferrers School, Chelmsford, tackled the issue of student loan financing by proposing a tax on graduate earnings.
In other entries in the fantasy budget competition, teenagers suggested introducing tax incentives for blood and body part donors to help overcome the shortage of vital organs. Another idea was to cut down on obesity by putting a tax on fats and sugars in manufactured food. Suggestions for ways of protecting the environment were also common, with some pupils wanting a tax on plastic bags, as is already done in Ireland.
Conservative MP Quentin Davies, who presented the prizes to the winners of the Fantasy Budget Competition 2003, said:
“I am delighted to see that young people today feel they not only have an interest in the way they live and the environment they live in, but also have thought long and hard about the way in which the present Government could respond to these concerns with a positive tax regime.”
The competition asked pupils what new tax measures they would introduce if they were Chancellor of the Exchequer. Other innovative ideas included:
