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IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

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?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own experience or knowledge.

You should write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer 1:
It is believed that the best way to solve traffic issues is by giving high rate tax for private motor vehicle owners, and the fund could be allocated for improving public transportation systems and facilities. The solution has its own positive and negative sides and the following essay will discuss them in details.

For a number of reasons, charging personal car owners with high tax rate with high tax rate and allocate the fund for improving and developing public transportation brings a lot of benefits for the society. It is undeniable that with the high tax rate, the number of car owners will gradually decrease and traffic congestion problem would slowly decline. As a result, people could commute faster work more effective and efficient and air pollution would be reduced.

Besides that, the collected tax fund could be used to improve and manage public transportation, as a lot of people would change their mode of transportation from personal cars into public transportation. For example, the government could replace all the old subway trains and buses with the new ones which consume fuel efficiently and more comfortable for passengers. Consequently, the budget for public transportation fuel could be reduced and public transportation user would feel comfort in using the facilities.

On the other hand, taxing private car owners heavily have some negative sides for the individual and the society. Firstly, many people live in areas which are not covered by public transportation, such as those who lived in rural areas or countryside. Should there be any public buses or trains that pass through that areas, the schedule might be only once or twice in a day. These people need private cars and if the tax for motorised vehicles is raised significantly then it would be a big burden and problem for them. Secondly, it is a fact that automotive industries have absorbed so many employments. As the demand for motor vehicle decreases due to the high tax rate, many automobile companies would reduce their employment number. As a consequence, the country's unemployment rate would be high.

In conclusion, the solution of charging private car owner with high vehicle tax rate to reduce traffic problems has its own benefits and drawbacks. The advantages of the solution are that people could travel faster and air pollution would be reduced. However, the disadvantages of it are that it would become a big problem for those who lived in remote areas since public transports are rarely reaching them and also cause unemployment issue.

[ by Darwin Lesmana ]

Sample Answer 2:
It is certainly true that traffic in most of the major cities in every country is really a problem due to more and more exclusive cars are used. So, some of the states schemed that in order to lessen private cars on the roads, car owners should pay more taxes. Countries administration thinks that this not only solves the problem but also, it will improve the public transportation. However, as every solution that will be imposing, benefits and drawbacks will always be there as I will now be discussed.

On one hand, tax imposition to owners of private cars will benefit the public conveniently and safely. As more money was collected, more funds for the improvement of transportation. For instance, in Singapore, their government strictly implemented a blue badge card as a form of tax for private vehicles to pass to their major cities such as Changi, Sentosa and China Town. As a result, more government trains and inter-city buses were built and utilise by most of the Singaporeans. Also, a city-wide network has been made to collect information and charge drivers if they have any violations. This means safety for the people of the lion country.

On the other hand, though such solution is successful to the people of Singapore, it is a failure to some countries that leads to more hostility of the people. For example, when the local government of Cambridge, England, considering Singaporean techniques, it faced vocal and ultimately successful opposition. People of England showed their anger to their government through their social networking sites and even rallied on the Cambridgeshire road to express their disagreement.

In conclusion, I think that imposition of the tax to car owners is not the only solution to problems on the road. There are other considerations as well, perhaps building a sky railways and subways. I believe these two are better than just collecting fines to one sector of the public.

[ by Rona Lyn Olivar ]

Sample Answer 3:
Following the industrialisation, the car has become one of the most commonly owned items. With cars we can travel miles within minutes, it made our life so much easier.  However, all the things have two sides, cars bring us convenience but it also creates problems for us.

Almost every major city on earth is suffering from the heavy amount of traffics on roads which often cause congestion. It waste the time of people, cause pollution due to the harmful gas eliminated by cars, also makes people feel frustrated. If the government decides to impose a heavy tax on private car owners, some people will probably get rid of the excessive cars. When people make the decision to purchase a car, they will also take the cost of heavy taxes into considerations, and may, in the end, postpone their plan of having a car. The policy can restrict the growing demand for cars.

However, since the tax applies to all private cars. Thus, the tax will increase the financial burden for car owners. There are no discriminations between the cars in major cities and the cars in the rural and remote areas. This means it may not restrict the amount of car flow in the central business district in the city, where the traffic problem is more severe. Some of the people who are not in a good financial position, but must have a car to travel to work will suffer. If they cannot afford the tax, they will dispose their cars and loose their jobs.

In summary, I reckon the government should take all these factors into consideration before start taxing private car owners. The government should come out with a better solution that pinpoints the traffic jam, but not private cars in generally.

[ by Zhen Wu ]

Sample Answer 4:
Nowadays, there are so many worldwide recognised car manufacturers in the world and numbers of produced cars have significantly increased which reflected on traffic problem, and it seems that this will never stop. Therefore, some people think this is kind of alarming and needs an urgent resolution of this situation. In my essay, I would like to talk about preventive works what can eliminate the critical condition on the roads and how best we may improve it.

I would like to indicate that there is almost everywhere suffers from the mentioned subject and big countries should implement the solution of how it could be recovered from the situation. So, it has to be plan properly in terms of standardisation rules in Asia for example to letting private car owners to pay taxes according to the range of cars on the annual basis. Another one possibly will help if they stop old cars to be used on the roads. In order to make this, we must pay fixed amount of sum as per year of every car, this will be a good turnaround for metal manufacturing. The prices are requiring being expensive no matter whichever range or type of this car is. Then the government can spend all collected and finance to the road management and increase the quality public transportation.

The disadvantage, in this case, is when you try to reduce the number of old cars, possible this will affect a majority of people who will not able to afford to buy a new car. Especially, big countries such as China, Russia, US, Brazil, Canada and Australia will struggle without transportation activities for the long distances.

Overall, I believe that there might be the implementation of the specially designed small cars which will be cheap, comfortable and can be used for such a purpose.

[ by Mahmud Teymurov ]

Sample Answer 5:
These days congested traffics in developing nations has made lots of environmental issues such as air and sound pollution and governments have taken different strategies to tackle this problem. Undeniably increasing tax on private car owners and investing more in public transport systems are the most considerable ways which government have performed in most of the countries to control the traffic  but it is essential to investigate both of negative and positive aspects of mentioned policies and applying other solutions to reduce  the number of traffic on our blue planet.

However, people will not use their own cars in most of the time when they must pay more taxes or insurance money and it can influence the number of traffic in each residential area, in some occasions, it directly affects the economy of a country. In other words, if the tax on the private car would be increased, prices of other goods would be raised and it makes people under pressure. On the other hand, policies should allow people to have a better life while adding costs for using a private car stand against this human right.

Also, some governments have tried to improve transport system by developing under ways and increasing the numbers of buses and trains which are appreciated and has had a deep effect on traffic issues, especially in mega cities. While this strategy is a very good solution but perhaps allocating some part of transport system budget to develop freeways would be a fundamental solution as people can use their own cars without making traffics.

I think, therefore, not only should governments limit societies to use private cars as the best solution for traffic problem, but they should try to make a situation which allows anyone to use his own car without worries about spending more money as the tax. Perhaps other steps would be taken beside boosting public transportation or getting tax on using own cars.

[ by Milad Rahimi ]

Sample Answer 6:
In current years, traffic problems day by day is getting worse. Following this, it causes many different problems such as air pollution and accidents. And in order to tackle these problems, governments would tax secluded car proprietors heavily and spent the money to ameliorate public transportation. Nevertheless, it has both sides: pros and cons. The way I see it is that imposing high taxes to the private car owners is profitable for everyone.

Looking first at the beneficial side of paying taxes to governments to improve the public transportation is that: increasing taxes which car owners must pay would have positive consequences for everyone. Fewer people will buy cars and this result leads to drop the number of private cars on the roads. Also, it can help dwindling of accidents on the road. Many young people who drive a car between the ages of 16 and 20 could use a public transport instead of using their own transport. However, fewer cars could lead to less noise and air pollution. Places would become cleaner, pure and safer. Also, people can walk and do cycling instead of driving cars and it will be helpful for their health and it would be cheaper as well. However, many people will oppose and might complain if such a decision is introduced by the government.

There are many people who prefer a car because it is faster, more reliable and convenient. Also, there are people who escape the overcrowded places due to hygienic reasons. Using public transport can lead to the extending of infections, viruses and bacteria. That is why people who use their private cars only would be at a disadvantage because they will be obligated to pay higher taxes but unable to benefit from the improvements of the public transport.

In conclusion, I strongly agree with the concept of increasing the taxes for car owners. The advantages outweigh the disadvantages of such a solution. In my opinion, fumes are extremely harmful to small children, pregnant women and old people. The government should protect vulnerable members of society and increase safety in urban areas by decreasing the number of cars.

[ by - Sherzod Djuraev ]

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