Possible new tax on the motorist!?

[Oops_my_bad]

Workplace Parking Levy: Plans To Charge Commuters £250 A Year To Park At Work Spark Fury | UK News | Sky News

 

[Gatt]

AKA..The C-Charge in Stealth Mode...

[srochford]

Not sure why this has hit the news again - it's been talked about for years!

 

In some ways it can be seen as a not unreasonable tax; if you get free parking at work then that's effectively a benefit which probably ought to be taxed just like company cars and other benefits in kind. If you look at how much a driver would have to pay to park on the street it could easily be more than £5 per day (very much more where I work) so £250 a year is pretty reasonable (income tax on £5 a day is more than £250 per year)

[mac_shinobi]

Not sure why this has hit the news again - it's been talked about for years!

 

In some ways it can be seen as a not unreasonable tax; if you get free parking at work then that's effectively a benefit which probably ought to be taxed just like company cars and other benefits in kind. If you look at how much a driver would have to pay to park on the street it could easily be more than £5 per day (very much more where I work) so £250 a year is pretty reasonable (income tax on £5 a day is more than £250 per year)

 

Pay enough taxes without another one thanks

 

Pay road tax and look at the states of roads ( could be a heck of a lot better then they are with everyone paying road tax )

[SC-UK]

It's ridiculous. Where I used to work was 12 miles away from my home. Used to take about 30 mins in the car (traffic in city centre).

 

I used the bus to get to work once:

-50 Minute walk to the nearest Bus stop

-First morning bus left 3 hours before work started

-Got to work approx 20 mins late

 

-Finished work

-Hour and 20 minute wait for bus

-Home at 8:30PM after another 50 minute walk in the rain

 

This is when I lived in rural Lincolnshire. Public transport does not work if you are not in a developed zone - end of story. The amount of stuff I had to carry to and from work used to only just fit in my car boot - I'd have no chance of carrying it on public transport. So why should I have to pay £250 to not suffer like that every day?

[Theblacksheep]

So the council, can tax private property more just because a car might park on it. I suppose they should raise the council tax to pay for enforcement too (like the tax grab on residential streets near the empty town center the residents fund and the council profits at both ends). Why do they need more? I Or is it because people will accept, even justify it?

 

 

We already pay 70% tax for fuel to travel to work, plus 15-17% on the car and all parts. Plus road tax. Plus 'Residents parking permits'. Plus council tax. Plus the tax on the wages you earnt to pay for it all in the first place.

Edited July 31, 2009 by Theblacksheep

[Gatt]

Don't let Oldham MBC hear that suggestion - they already make those who PAY their council tax pay for "Unpaid Council Tax"

[srochford]

Don't let Oldham MBC hear that suggestion - they already make those who PAY their council tax pay for "Unpaid Council Tax"

 

You might as well say "Don't let Tesco hear that; they already make those who PAY for their shopping pay for shoplifting"

 

that's the way the world works - some people always try and rip off the system and those of us who are honest have to pick up the pieces.

[Dos_Box]

Not sure why this has hit the news again - it's been talked about for years!

 

In some ways it can be seen as a not unreasonable tax; if you get free parking at work then that's effectively a benefit which probably ought to be taxed just like company cars and other benefits in kind. If you look at how much a driver would have to pay to park on the street it could easily be more than £5 per day (very much more where I work) so £250 a year is pretty reasonable (income tax on £5 a day is more than £250 per year)

 

Thats because you are based in London. Many of us in the provinces have to travel quite some distances by car to work, and often there is no alternative to your company\school car park. Using the excuse that it is classed as a 'benefit' they could also include the oxygen we breath, and whack a tax on that. Besides, if your contract or terms of employemnt does not state that you on site parking is a benefit then surely it is a requirment. This govt has already made some pretty tragic decisions recently, but to actually tax people for going to work would be s step to far, and teh industrial action which would ensue does not bare thinking about.

[torledo]

So the council, can tax private property more just because a car might park on it. I suppose they should raise the council tax to pay for enforcement too (like the tax grab on residential streets near the empty town center the residents fund and the council profits at both ends). Why do they need more? I Or is it because people will accept, even justify it?

 

 

We already pay 70% tax for fuel to travel to work, plus 15-17% on the car and all parts. Plus road tax. Plus 'Residents parking permits'. Plus council tax. Plus the tax on the wages you earnt to pay for it all in the first place.

 

it's not on is it really ? Forcing people to alter behaviours through the use of taxation. OK, most people don't disagree with that deep down....but then they have to suffer the abysmal public transport as the alternative.

[mattx]

but to actually tax people for going to work would be s step to far,

 

VAT on fuel was a step too far but it happened thanks to the Tories, oh and don't forget the Poll Tax...but with all parties, if they think they can get away with it, they will.

[torledo]

Thats because you are based in London. Many of us in the provinces have to travel quite some distances by car to work, and often there is no alternative to your company\school car park. Using the excuse that it is classed as a 'benefit' they could also include the oxygen we breath, and whack a tax on that. Besides, if your contract or terms of employemnt does not state that you on site parking is a benefit then surely it is a requirment. This govt has already made some pretty tragic decisions recently, but to actually tax people for going to work would be s step to far, and teh industrial action which would ensue does not bare thinking about.

 

i'm thinking the councils should actually implement this in such a way so as to tax city centre locations primarily.....that's where most of the traffic headaches exist.

And that's presumably what they want to try and influence, not you driving six miles to work in Preston and parking in a school carpark or whatever.

 

Commutes into and out of central locations, so as srochford says....you could have a city centre location [where space is at a premium anyway] and they have an underground free carpark or free onsite carpark location while other workers at other companies have to make do with pay and display onstreet, or parking a great deal of distance away from their place of work.

 

There is an unfairness, and if taxation is going to influence behaviour as an attempt to reduce congestion on key routes, then it's only fair that you apply it to the hidden menace of free employee carparking in city centres and the like

[Ric_]

@torledo: It's very well saying that councils should work it that but we all know how councils work and the logistics of taxing some and not others is a nightmare too - where do draw the line? It's destined to failure and open to abuse.

 

Likewise, a £250 tax for me would be unavoidable. The first bus heading in thright direction from my house is about 10am. I hate to think about how many different buses I would need to get too.

 

If we had an acceptable public transport system I would say it was fair. As it stands, we don't so we may as well tax people for getting out of bed!

[Theblacksheep]

If they really wanted to alter behaviour they'd make petrol for cars 10x more expensive, but they dont because its a valuable source of income, so it goes 3 steps forward and 1 back, repeat.

 

This is a normalising tax, get it in and it'll become normal, and creep up just like every other tax.

 

If they really want to change behaviour, it would be a systematic change. Not enough to make people change a thing, A £5 a week charge isn't anything but a cash cow. They know this game well.

[HodgeHi]

I think most people miss the main issue, for me it is anyway. The cost of public transport. If (where i live its west midlands travel or was) they know that more and more people are to start using the public transport then the cost doesn't go down. It goes up. So the more people use the public crap the more it'll cost everyone. So no-one wins apart from the owners/council who can say that they met their quota for CO2 emissions.

 

When i used to use the buses it cost some like £2.50 for a day-saver. I think that is now nearly double. The last time i purchased one of those was around 2003. That's not that long ago.

 

And what about the folks that suffer from travel sickness when on a coach/bus? I, personally only suffer badly on coaches/buses but never in a car

 

Anyway, my 2p

[mac_shinobi]

I think most people miss the main issue, for me it is anyway. The cost of public transport. If (where i live its west midlands travel or was) they know that more and more people are to start using the public transport then the cost doesn't go down. It goes up. So the more people use the public crap the more it'll cost everyone. So no-one wins apart from the owners/council who can say that they met their quota for CO2 emissions.

 

When i used to use the buses it cost some like £2.50 for a day-saver. I think that is now nearly double. The last time i purchased one of those was around 2003. That's not that long ago.

 

And what about the folks that suffer from travel sickness when on a coach/bus? I, personally only suffer badly on coaches/buses but never in a car

 

Anyway, my 2p

 

I was using public transport a fair amount especially in my last job role and as you state it only went up price wise and I started paying £19 a week when I first started using it and before I had finished working at my last position it was £22 a week and that was only because I got the weekly saver tickets otherwise I would of been ripped off to no end.

 

I think in the end it was about £8 a day or something daft ( £8 *5 ) then multiply that by however many weeks in a month or the weekly saver for £22 a week.

[torledo]

@torledo: It's very well saying that councils should work it that but we all know how councils work and the logistics of taxing some and not others is a nightmare too - where do draw the line? It's destined to failure and open to abuse.

 

Likewise, a £250 tax for me would be unavoidable. The first bus heading in thright direction from my house is about 10am. I hate to think about how many different buses I would need to get too.

 

If we had an acceptable public transport system I would say it was fair. As it stands, we don't so we may as well tax people for getting out of bed!

 

i had thought that might be a problem. Perhaps schools and other organisations could get relief from this tax, or companies with fewer than X number of staff allocated car parking spaces. So a small business with a bit of car parking infront of the building wouldn't be subject to the tax, and neither would schools or hospitals.

 

as for the issue of public transport, yes that's a problem. But then maybe it get's the requisite funding via these taxes to improves serivces......and pigs might fly. Public transport has never been the carrot to get people to stop using their car, the stick of hitting car drivers in the pocket is what gets [some]employees out of their cars thus reducing the number of cars on key commuter routes and in the city centres. Especially parking for parkign near to work.....

 

at the city centre college i studied at briefly loads of staff came in on train or bus. It must have cost atleast £5 to park for the day at the onsite carpark...probably nearer £10-£15. Most nearby onstreet parking was subject to pay and display, any free spaces in the vicinity were taken by 8:00 in the morning.

 

Even taking the low £5 figure and times it by 200+.......that's over a grand a year just for parking at work.

 

By contrast £250 sounds very reasonable in some areas, and it's a tax employees will eventually pay because it's cost-benefit is cheaper than putting up with public transport. Even if it were £500, that's still cheaper than 12 four week bus passes round my neck of the woods. You'd be mad not to implement a tax that companies and individuals will pay.

[torledo]

I think most people miss the main issue, for me it is anyway. The cost of public transport. If (where i live its west midlands travel or was) they know that more and more people are to start using the public transport then the cost doesn't go down. It goes up. So the more people use the public crap the more it'll cost everyone. So no-one wins apart from the owners/council who can say that they met their quota for CO2 emissions.

 

When i used to use the buses it cost some like £2.50 for a day-saver. I think that is now nearly double. The last time i purchased one of those was around 2003. That's not that long ago.

 

And what about the folks that suffer from travel sickness when on a coach/bus? I, personally only suffer badly on coaches/buses but never in a car

 

Anyway, my 2p

 

if you were to travel on some of the buses i used to travel on to work, you'd get travel sickness alright but that was more to do with the smell of cigarettes and weed on the top deck of the bus or the smell of what people had trodden on underfoot.

 

At times it was a truly horrid experience, and i used to hate how the bus companies would have the gall to put prices up every year....when the service would show little or no noticeable improvement.

 

I would however doubt that prices for day tickets between 2003 and now would have doubled, irrespective of the bus company.

 

I've long believed in 100% concessionary travel on key routes. That way workers know there is a free commute to work if it involves travel on a key commuter route. That i think would make a significant impact.

[Netware]

well all i can say is, if this does happen then i'm going to leave the UK and head to Canada with the wife and kids. as i think we pay too many taxes here already!!!!.....

[DrummerBoy]

Another thing about this is that most people who would be hit by this tax do not live, or vote, in the towns and cities where there will be charges, so you coulddn't even vote out the party concerned at the next election!!

 

Also a parking space is not really a benefit in kind, If so then the next logical step is to tax your desk, your provided IT equipment and so on. And what's the betting that the council workers are exempt from charges, as well as 'essential workers'.

 

Heck if my taxes pay for nurses, aren't I essential for providing that service?

 

And councils wonder why the centre of cities are emptying of shops and out of town retail and business parks are flourishing!!

 

Let's face it all authority in the UK hates cars and drivers, but don't have the guts to say it outright.

 

My company wanted to move premises this year, but couldn't find new accomodation due to Johnny 2 Jags rules on parking spaces and square footage.

 

As an IT knowledge company we have staff who travel up to 50 miles each way every day, but can't have enough spaces without buying twice as muach square footage as needed. Funny, when the NHS took over the bottom 2 floors of the building we are currently in there was no problem in providing loads of spaces for them.

 

Politics, bah humbug!!!

[Michael]

This is a bad move from the Government and yet another nail in the coffin in my eyes. Many companies are struggling to get through this recession. Introducing such a tax on companies means they'll simply pass it on to employees or customers, so the prices of services/goods will go up even more.

 

At some point VAT will probably increase too, back to 17.5% or possibly upto 18.5% I have read by the end of the year.

I think the system they have in France is fair. There is no road tax for cars and you pay based on use of the road. It makes perfect sense, whether you use your car once a week or everyday of the week you pay your share.

 

What the Government are doing is destroying perfectly good businesses due to lack of available credit, making more people unemployed and as a result the amount of people on benefits is now 2.5 million. It was estimated (from the last recession) unemployment continued to rise 2 years even after the economy started to grow. Only then did employment start to rise, but this time I think the problem will be much longer lasting as people won't have a job to go to.

 

Creating a job/business is a lot harder than making someone redundant or closing a business and this Government don't seem to realise this. I doubt very few of them have actually ever run their own business so don't have the experience of expertise to deal with the day to day financial struggles many companies are going through.

[john]

If they do that it will be a joke! I could catch a train (as I live outside a station) but it would cost something like £6 a day to go one stop along the line and one back on the return!!! Plus I would have to buy a bike to cycle from the station to work at the other end as its probably a 15/20 minute walk to the station so for the cost its silly, and like a lot of us I am always dipping in and out of my car for tools, parts and spares etc that are my own let alone taking piles of wokr home with me and carrying on working on them so a train is just not convienient. Also the train to catch home is either faaar too early or faar too late really for my needs, we have 8 trains a day on the line so its not that flexible!

[K.C.Leblanc]

At some point VAT will probably increase too, back to 17.5% or possibly upto 18.5% I have read by the end of the year.

I think the system they have in France is fair. There is no road tax for cars and you pay based on use of the road. It makes perfect sense, whether you use your car once a week or everyday of the week you pay your share.

 

Very well said, we already have a similar system. It's called fuel duty.

 

Every tax costs money to introduce, every tax payment costs money to process, every non payment costs money to pursue. When we introduce new taxes we need to consider the efficiency of these tax, in this case I'd imagine a relatively high amount of the tax receipts will spent on administering this tax. Are councils going to have to inspect company car parks to see how many people are using them? Will they be using anti terrorist powers to do so?

 

I not only don't support this tax on the grounds above. I also oppose it on the grounds that motorists already pay a stupid amount of tax. If the government want people out of their cars, and I don't think they do, they just want their money. Then it's very simple improve public transport, as you do it more people will use public transport and it'll become more sustainable. But at the moment public transport is not only too expensive, it's poorly organised, and not integrated.

[Oops_my_bad]

Plus I would have to buy a bike to cycle from the station to work at the other end as its probably a 15/20 minute walk to the station so for the cost its silly

 

And thats assuming the train operator will allow bikes on board - most will not so makes the whole idea of integrated transport a farce.

[torledo]

Another thing about this is that most people who would be hit by this tax do not live, or vote, in the towns and cities where there will be charges, so you coulddn't even vote out the party concerned at the next election!!

 

Also a parking space is not really a benefit in kind, If so then the next logical step is to tax your desk, your provided IT equipment and so on. And what's the betting that the council workers are exempt from charges, as well as 'essential workers'.

 

Heck if my taxes pay for nurses, aren't I essential for providing that service?

 

And councils wonder why the centre of cities are emptying of shops and out of town retail and business parks are flourishing!!

 

Let's face it all authority in the UK hates cars and drivers, but don't have the guts to say it outright.

 

My company wanted to move premises this year, but couldn't find new accomodation due to Johnny 2 Jags rules on parking spaces and square footage.

 

As an IT knowledge company we have staff who travel up to 50 miles each way every day, but can't have enough spaces without buying twice as muach square footage as needed. Funny, when the NHS took over the bottom 2 floors of the building we are currently in there was no problem in providing loads of spaces for them.

 

Politics, bah humbug!!!

 

hang on, this article is talking about a levy that councils may be able to impose on companies with 10 or more car parking spaces.

 

how does this hit those who don't live and vote in these areas ? infact how does it affect those who don't have the benefit of these currently 'free' parking spaces ?

 

And someone else has mentioned VAT. wtf does VAT have anything to do with it.

 

I do however undertstand how difficult this scheme will be to work in practice. But parking at work is a benefit in kind when the alternative is to pay money into a parking meter.