Councils to impose a levy on works car parks.

[quisquose]

Assuming employers will pass this cost on to employees. would you be happy to pay £1/day for the privilege of a secure parking space at work ?

I've just come back from Dorset, and it cost £1 to park for 24hrs in Lyme Regis and various other coastal towns. So £1, rising to £1.50, to park for 9 hrs in some scabby car-park in Attercliffe, seems poor value in comparison.

 

It's also a tax that will hit the poor much harder than the rich. Will part-timers have to pay the same £1? What about our cleaner who only turns up for 2 hrs to supplement her meagre pension?

 

Why only employees? What about customers who have a free parking space available, at say B&Q, in comparison to a competitor, say Wilkinsons, where one is not?

[iansheff]

But not areas such as Crystal Peaks where they park the car for free and travel on the tram into the city.

 

Yes but only for 3 or 4 hours maximum then you risk being "fined"

[willman]

Yes but only for 3 or 4 hours maximum then you risk being "fined"

 

Not in the general area surrounding Crystal Peaks - its a free for all. In the CP centre admittedly.

[quisquose]

Because if you get free parking as part of your job, you are essentially being paid slightly more (the cost of the parking) and should be taxed on that extra.

When I started work there was no differentiation between the drivers with access to employer's concrete, and those without, because there was no parking fees anywhere. So I would say that it is the workers without access to free parking that are essentially, and increasingly, being paid less.

 

This might seem pedantic, but the alternative is to accept the fact that the council can implement charges, and then tax people for avoiding it.

 

Providing car parking is not really a benefit in kind in the same way that salary, company car, loans or private health insurance is though. It's more a provision to make the working environment more pleasant for employees, such as a canteen, xmas party, air-conditioning, water dispensers, nice furniture and technology.

 

Besides, benefit in kind on your p11d usually actually reflects the actual cost of the benefit, for a car it is based on list price and for health insurance it is the actual cost. The scheme that is suggested here is a flat rate tax totally irrespective of the cost of providing it, which could be many thousands for a secure city centre spot, or free if it is a bit of wasteland.

 

It is not about taxing a benefit in kind, it's about punishing people for driving to work. I support the idea of getting people out of cars, but feel this is the wrong way to go about it.

[carosio]

Sounds fair enough - payment in kind, which is what giving free parking is really, is supposed to be taxed. I assume it is virtually impossible to prove that someone is getting free parking, so the easiest way to charge the tax is on any company that gives out free parking, rather than as part of income tax.

 

But why should employers charge their employees to park on their own land, particularly if the existing parking spaces/area cost the employer nothing and are within the firms boundaries?

[HeadingNorth]

But why should employers charge their employees to park on their own land

 

They don't have to; but if they choose not to, they are in essence paying the employees' parking costs for them on top of their salary.

[Wildcat]

But why should employers charge their employees to park on their own land, particularly if the existing parking spaces/area cost the employer nothing and are within the firms boundaries?

 

I expect most businesses will take the view that it would be too much trouble to try to pass there costs on to the workers that use car parking spaces. Since the money to pay this will come out of the same profits that pay wages it could result in non-car owners effectively subsidising car owners. The reality is though this is just a local stealth tax, without any economic or progressive environmental rationale.

[quisquose]

They don't have to; but if they choose not to, they are in essence paying the employees' parking costs for them on top of their salary.

A small number of employers do pay parking costs for their employees, and I would possibly accept an argument that these costs should not be deductible for corporation tax, or a p11d benefit is reported.

 

However, the marginal cost of us providing our employees with parking spaces is zero, in fact it is less than zero since it ensures that they are at their workplace for slightly longer.

[HeadingNorth]

However, the marginal cost of us providing our employees with parking spaces is zero, in fact it is less than zero since it ensures that they are at their workplace for slightly longer.

 

 

If you own land which on which it's flatly impossible to build anything and charge rent on the tenants, this is true.

[quisquose]

If you own land which on which it's flatly impossible to build anything and charge rent on the tenants, this is true.

This has been true for every business I have worked for. Mainly distribution and manufacturing, the premises usually have space to park cars that would be wasted space if we told the employees to park elsewhere. Cyclists, motorists and pedestrians alike would be love to see all those extra vehicles dangerously parking on the side streets.