They won’t call it a tax, but by any other name, it smells the same. The City of Nottingham (of Robbing Hood fame) is instituting a tax over the next few years on private parking spaces. About $75 a month per space will be charged to the 500 largest employers in the area. This is not new in the UK, Birmingham does it already. Its a way to attempt to force employers to do something about commuting (hire people closer to the factory, institute car pooling, etc). The employer can pay the tax themselves or pass it along to the employee.
Just another government boondoggle to raise money "for public transportation." Let’s see, we are taxing those who drive cars so those who take the bus can ride for free. OK, I don’t have a problem charging for parking, you know that. And I believe that providing parking should be the decision of the business owner. And I believe that parking should be unbundled so people know exactly what providing parking should cost. However this thinly veiled attempt at another tax is another example of government taking money from one pocket because its gotten all that was available from another.
Will this tax be used to lower other business taxes (HA), will the money go back into the industrial estates to clean them up, provide better police and fire protection, better streets, maybe a tree or two?(HA HA). The money is supposed to be used for better public transportation. As with most of these taxes, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Consider the lottery tax. Well, that’s what it is — People, mostly poor people, are snookered into buying lottery tickets. 100% of them, less one, win nothing. zero, zip. The money goes to pay for the administration of the lottery and the rest (in California, anyway) is supposed to go to schools. Are our schools any better than they were before the lottery. Not by any measurable amount. However the government supports this hidden tax on a subset of our population. Shame…
Be alert — your local government will pick up on this, if they haven’t already, and in the name of environmentalism, or global warming, or something, will put this in place and businesses will decide that its a better idea to move to China than put up with this tax after tax after tax.
JVH
One Response
I am not sure of the origins of this news, but I believe some of its contents are not quite right.
The UK may have a reputation of a being a high tax country and the motorist does suffer more than most, however to-date, we do not have in place any scheme local or national where businesses are having to pay for providing parking spaces.
The scheme under consideration by Nottingham City Council to levy a charge for workplace parking is about to enter the public consultation stage and as such it may in theory not go ahead. If it does, it will be the first in the UK and will take at least three to four years to introduce. For the readers information, the proposed scheme Nottingham City is proposing a levy of $300 annually per space.
How much will it cost Nottingham?
The Government has agreed to allocate $880million towards the cost.
The City of Nottingham says that approximately $200 million will have to be raised locally.
The scheme’s promoters are considering funding options which include:
Workplace Parking Levy
Contributions from Developers
Borrowing
Allocation of Council Tax
Exemptions will be in place for disabled people, small businesses, emergency vehicles, and parking used by motorbikes, scooters and bicycles. Employers will be charged a license for the
number of spaces subject to the levy. The scheme involves expanding the current tram network to many areas on the city and contrary to what is stated above it will not free to users.
It also appears to me that schemes of these nature are not as bad as they may initially appear. It is clear that in the UK (and I am sure this also applies to most countries including the USA) the growth in car use is not sustainable and we are forced to look at ways to reduce the use of motorcars particularly during peak hours. Currently any business offering parking spaces to their employees do not pay for that privilege, however when the general public park in a public car park we have to pay a commercial rate for using the facility and that forms part of the consideration and decision to take the car or use public transport to get to/from work, we also know that with public parking, a sales tax of 17.5% is paid to the government but this is not the case for the provision of business parking.
As the objective of Nottingham is to reduce traffic congestion and use this levy as a part contribution to invest in a better transport system. We should not just disregard new initiatives aimed at resolving the major problems we are facing, and as such it should not be seen or reported as just another tax to the motorist.
We should understand that it is not possible for more and more people to use the motorcar at peak periods, and I am certain this not only applies in Great Britain but across the world including the USA, and schemes of this type could make a difference and should be welcome with open arms.
Manny Rasores de Toro
Mr. Parking Consultancy