Yet another stealth jobs tax

It seems that the government has developed a scheme to raise more money from motorists who work and need their car for work. Any employer with more than 10 staff parking spaces will be charged £250 per place per year by the local authority, although the government could well cut their grant and get the benefit, although the tax is said to be for local transport improvement. Within a couple of years the annual charge will be £350. Firms will be entitled to pass on the cost to their staff.

This fresh attack on motorists arrives because the government had to back down on "pay as you drive" pricing, for the moment.

Nottingham is to be the pioneer in this new tax in 2012, and with an estimated 40,000 commuters driving into Nottingham up to $10 million pounds will be extracted, depending how many people park where there ten or more places. Nationally the ten million driving to work daily could cause £3 billion in extra tax.

Unsurprisingly, other towns, including Milton Keynes, Exeter, Cambridge and Oxford, have shown an interest, while Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield are thought to be interested.

Some motorists will be harder hit than others, for instance those on night shift when there is less public transport, and those for whom there is no convenient public transport service whose travel time will be lengthened.

There may be ways round it for smaller employers. Those currently with not many more than 10 places could replace spaces above ten with flower beds, etc., and rotate those who wish to continue on a regular basis. Thus, say, two would lose parking rights for six weeks, and then a different two, and so on. This is still worsening employment conditions, as it would if the firms built on or sold present parking areas.