Taxation, a driver of mobilities ?

Taxes and mobilities are closely related. Tax instruments can affect mobilities in a space dimension, by favoring or deterring spatial movements, but also in a time-based dimension, by encouraging or discouraging innovation. Conversely, mobilities also impact taxation, as taxes apply within a limited territorial scope. In this presentation, I study the nexus between taxation, mobilities, justice and empowerment, by attempting to determine whether taxes are driver of mobilities, social/technological empowerment and justice, or whether they foster immobilities and social exclusion.
Tax instruments can influence different aspects of particular mobility practices such as who moves, how and why. Taxes can be used as a specific instrument of mobility policy, as a form of the so-called “fiscal interventionism”, or simply affect mobility behaviors, regardless whether the objective pursued is actually related to mobility. Taxation also connects to mobilities through the phenomenon of tax avoidance, which induces inter- or intra-States displacements.
Taxes govern individuals’ behaviors by impacting the type of vehicle they buy, its environmental performance (vehicle taxes), the number of kilometer they drive (fuel and kilometer taxes), when and where (congestion taxes), the mode of transport they choose (commuting taxation) and even where they live (property tax). Taxation of digital platforms and services also affects the development of new mobility patterns and how future mobilities will be shaped. Depending on their specific features, taxes will crystallize existing inequalities or strive to remove them, taxes will foster technological evolution or cultivate stagnation. According to political choices and struggles for power, taxation will be an instrument of social and technological empowerment, or a factor of social exclusion and immobilities.