ABSTRACT
As noted in Chapter 2, one of the oldest rationales for taxation derives from the concept of public goods that cannot be provided on a market exchange basis. A very large number of LETs have been developed in many nations to charge people and organizations for the collective benefi ts of public transport. This could involve a local charge to the area where public transport investment takes place or to employers located in that area. Whelan (2003) in his assessment of possible funding mechanisms for London identifi es a large number of benefi ciary pays LETs. Although this study is based on the benefi ciary pays principle it does include a wide range of LETs that in this book are classifi ed otherwise (e.g. road charging, sales and gambling taxes).
