The Swinford Toll Bridge is a time-honored road bridge northwest of Oxford, UK. What is special about it is that thousands of road users have to exercise patience every day if they want to drive over it. Because the crossing is subject to a fee, so you have to stop to pay the fee. Even more extraordinary, however, is that the owners of the Swinford Toll Bridge have a royal right to charge this fee. In addition, they hold the local monopoly on the bridge. The only thing that goes beyond the absurd is the fact that the income that the owners of the Swinford Toll Bridge earn in this way is completely tax-free. Just like the monopoly privilege, this regulation goes to King George III. It has been around for about 250 years. A nice example of curious tax law worldwide, which we would like to present to you here.

Are you looking for ways to get income tax-free? Then you are in exactly the right place. But instead of our extraordinary tax design models, with which we otherwise open up ways to achieve tax-free income, this time it is actually about tax-free income. Do you doubt? Well, you may be right, at least if you only look at German tax law. But even there are some areas where tax-free income is possible, for example in the private sale of real estate or the sale of everyday items. Even in German inheritance and gift tax law, one finds ways to transfer assets tax-free, and even on a large scale.

In this article, however, we would like to focus on foreign countries. Because there you actually find some tax curiosity (for example, the roof tax). Our first post in this series introduces you to the Swinford Toll Bridge in the UK.

Before we discuss the fiscal characteristics of the Swinford Toll Bridge, let us first describe where this bridge is located. We also tell you some important details about their history as well as their present and future.

The Swinford Toll Bridge is a so-called customs bridge. In the Middle Ages it was quite common for the princes and other sovereigns to earn part of their income through tariffs. Way customs could be demanded mainly at certain points, namely those that the taxable persons, mostly traders with their goods, had to pass in any case (for example at the city gate). For this reason, fords and later bridges have also been particularly suitable stations for collecting road duties since ancient times.

But such tariffs are not a pure medieval source of income. Those who travel by car in other European countries nowadays are aware of toll charges or vignette obligations for the use of national motorways (for example Austria, Switzerland), for pass roads, or for access to certain cities (for example London, Oslo). Even for bridges or the passage of tunnels, you can demand fees today, such as over the big Belt.

But now let’s look back at the Swinford Toll Bridge in the south of the UK. More specifically, the Swinford Toll Bridge is located in the county of Oxfordshire between Oxford and Cheltenham. There it spans the Thames south of the village of Eynsham. It goes back to a ferry station, which has been mentioned in sources since 1299.

In fact, the Swinford Toll Bridge was not built until 1769 by John Townsend on behalf of Willoughby Bertie, Earl of Abingdon. But already in 1774 it damaged a local flood, which at that time was considered the largest in living memory. The repair costs then also led to the financial ruin of the Earl of Abingdon.

Over the centuries, it is still available for local road traffic over the Thames. It is now part of the regional road B4044. However, the collection of user charges regularly leads to long traffic jams, especially on working days, during rush hours.

Therefore, there are efforts to abolish the fee obligation. The last opportunity was in 2009, when the bridge was for sale at auction. If Oxfordshire County had bought the bridge, it could have abolished the fee. The owners of the Swinford Toll Bridge are still allowed to charge fees for crossing the bridge. However, the fee is quite moderate even in our time. Thus, pedestrians and cyclists as well as all types of motorcycles do not pay a fee. The nearly 4,000,000 vehicles crossing the bridge annually, on the other hand, pay GBP 0.05 per car, up to GBP 0.20 per bus and GBP 0.10 per axle for trucks.

Nevertheless, the Swinford Toll Bridge is currently in need of renovation. And although the fee income for their use flows daily, an imminent renewal is hardly expected. In any case, an increase in fees seems hardly acceptable in view of the efforts to abolish them. This is despite the fact that the last increase in fees took place in 1994, which means that it was a long time ago.

Have you counted how much the Swinford Toll Bridge earns in the year? Even if we assume that these are only passenger cars crossing this bridge, they come together to the tune of around GBP 200,000. Converted into euros, this corresponds to about EUR 230,000 per year according to the current exchange rate. For some, this is certainly a lot of money, but others may smile at them amused. The fact is that the owners of the Swinford Toll Bridge achieve this safe source of income practically without much effort (although, as already noted, the bridge would have to be renovated in the meantime). What is even more surprising is that these revenues are completely tax-free.

Unlike, for example, some types of tax where legislators charge a tax rate of 0%, such as sales tax on food in certain EU countries (e.g. Portugal, Malta), Swinford Toll Bridge has its own tax law. King George III. Most of all, he himself initiated the tax exemption of the owners of the Swinford Toll Bridge (Public Act, 7 George III, c. 63). In addition, King George III secured. The owners of the Swinford Toll Bridge also have a monopoly. Thus, at a distance of two miles, no further bridge may be built upstream or downstream. And all this remains unchanged to this day.

Now the Swinford Toll Bridge is already several centuries old. In this long time, much has changed in the world – even in the otherwise so conservative and self-loving and praising Britain. It is therefore no wonder that in the course of the 20th century and up to the present day the Swinford Toll Bridge brought about many local, but also supra-regional political debates. For example, it had been debated for years whether the owners of the bridge were allowed to increase the fees for the crossing. Recently, however, the question of maintaining the tax exemption privilege linked to ownership on the bridge has become more and more prominent. This also has to do with the fact that the owners had not taken any far-reaching steps to renovate the bridge. Since the local traffic on the one hand has steadily increased, the acid rain and other weather influences on the other hand gnaw at the substance of the natural stone bridge, this is quite understandable.

Perhaps all this would not be such a great Shakespearean drama if the bridge had at times been taken over by the local administration. But she was reluctant, since she probably had to fear rightly that the compensation for the future lost tax-free income of the owners would be astronomical. After all, one can look back on a centuries-old source of income along with monopoly and tax privilege.

So if you want to move to the Island of Right-Hand Drivers-Left and cross over the Thames west of Oxford, do as the local people did in the past: stop in sight of the Swinford Toll Bridge in the evening, wait for the guard to put out the lights of his dugout, and then ride over this historic tax-exempt monument without charge.