In order to solve traffic problems, governments should tax private car owners heavily and use the money to improve public transportation. (Band 9)

IELTS Writing Sample:  In order to solve traffic problems, governments should tax private car owners heavily and use the money to improve public transportation. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a solution?

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I don’t think that taxation would be the best remedy for the problems associated with too much automobile traffic in city centres. The main reasons are as follows: some people can always find a way to avoid paying taxes and the city administration might find it necessary to divert the gained revenue to other areas sometime in the future. 

A big and very old city like London has to make serious decisions about automobile traffic because the roads were built for horses and wagons instead of lorries and taxis. In only a single century, the automobile has significantly eased many lives, but this innovation has also most likely caused a lot of damage worldwide to the environment.

I think that a ban on personal vehicles is the best idea. For instance, the city of Venice in Italy has a huge parking lot. Visitors and workers alike need to park in that giant lot and walk across a bridge to get into the city. Everyone travels on a gondola or they travel around the city on foot. Venice only has a traffic problem in their giant parking lot outside of the city!

Improving public transportation must include ways to prevent the destruction of the city’s history or it can be worse than private vehicles. On the other hand, when a city digs under the ground to expand a metro line, valuable objects from the past are often discovered. 

Perhaps most importantly, if any city government tries to tax the citizens and there is a lot of opposition, then that political party will have trouble remaining in power. So, heavy taxation or prohibition of personal vehicles will probably never be seriously discussed. [280 words]