Stop £250 Tax to park at work - Official petition

Wayne_park-uk

Disagree

yelf wrote: »

its an absurd idea.

Thats exactly why we are petitioning.
Need to stop these bullies eh !!

Loughton_Monkey

kickwhamstunner wrote: »

We want things but we don't want to pay for them! Just cut the benefits of the immigrants and poor, that'll keep the country afloat!

True, but a bit irrelevant in this case. Yes, we want parking spaces, but our employer has already paid for them - just as he has the desk you sit at, the chair you sit on, and the computer you use. These are all tools of the job.

Governments introduce things like this mainly because they want extra revenue, and in this case consider that it appeases the "green" vote. They don't think of the HUGE extra cost such taxes take to administer. They don't think of the ludicrous anomolies (like minimum wage bar staff in country villages - who park at their place of work for free - having to pay as much tax as a Director in the City of London.

I really hope that our new so-called Government really can get to grips with tax simplification as promised. Road Tax is a prime example. Why oh why on earth would any rational government introduce this. How much does it cost to administer and collect? Especially with all the new fuel-emmission bands etc. Simply putting X pence on the price of fuel would (a) not cost a penny more to raise the same extra money, (b) would far more equitably distribute the tax most to those who use the roads and/or choose gas guzzlers, and (c) ensure that foreign drivers contribute as well - which they don't currently.

So yes, we want things (from our Government) and personally I don't mind paying for them up to a point. What I do object to, though, is getting about 30 pence 'true value' for every £1 tax paid simply because of the most complex, highly paid, extremely innefficient government bureaucracies.

opinions4u

Disagree

Got to agree with every word Loughton has just posted.

Too many taxes and too many benefits in this country. I appreciate the need to pay for services, but you could easily raise tax thresholds (to incentivise work) and cut a range of benefits. Budget neutral but shifts the burden to self-reliance instead of state handouts.

There's a cost to collecting tax and a cost to collecting benefits. Reduce the levels of both and you free up more money for the people you serve.

As for the £250 tax on parking? It's a sick joke of an idea. Until other towns, cities and suburbs get the breadth and regularity of public transport that London has (and it will never happen) we should be telling our politicians to shove it. Big time.

Wayne_park-uk

Disagree

opinions4u wrote: »

Got to agree with every word Loughton has just posted.

Too many taxes and too many benefits in this country. I appreciate the need to pay for services, but you could easily raise tax thresholds (to incentivise work) and cut a range of benefits. Budget neutral but shifts the burden to self-reliance instead of state handouts.

There's a cost to collecting tax and a cost to collecting benefits. Reduce the levels of both and you free up more money for the people you serve.

As for the £250 tax on parking? It's a sick joke of an idea. Until other towns, cities and suburbs get the breadth and regularity of public transport that London has (and it will never happen) we should be telling our politicians to shove it. Big time.

Totally agree also.....

Imagine the nightmare of enforcing the ''Parking at work tax'' !!

The public transport thing is valid...
I also promote journey sharing in a big way.
This is a brilliant way to save tax on your entire journey...parking,fuel etc.

It is wrong that employers are being taxed twice for parking they provide their staff, the new tax and rates on the property they already pay. It's unfair even for people that share journeys to work to contribute to park in a space when they get to work.
However I'am a realist and I know that, because of the issues like trust, personalities and convenience it will be a few years before the public accept journey sharing..In the meantime many will continue to travel alone and shouldn't be taxed further at this stage.
It is a fact that there are other Government plans to deter people travelling alone as has been done on a huge scale in the USA. Search ''Car pooling'' on Google and you will be inundated with ''Car pooling blogs etc.
Once toll roads are hugely introduced here I'm sure people travelling alone will be willing to share as there will be a huge toll reduction or even zero cost incentives for sharers...

I could rattle on forever...

Trust me I have everyones interest at heart as far as parking and journey sharing is concerned and will move this forward with great passion.

kickwhamstunner

The 'parking at work tax' would just be declared by your employer on a P11D as a taxable benefit for each employee who uses the facility, a system that already works fine for other taxable benefits. So to suggest that there would be a huge extra cost administer this is just flat-out wrong.

employer has already paid for them - just as he has the desk you sit at, the chair you sit on, and the computer you use. These are all tools of the job.

Desk you sit at
Chair you sit on
Computer you use
Car parking space.

Three of these things are legitimate business expenses, necessary for doing the job. One is not. Can we work out which?

The bottom line is that if your employer provides you with a parking space at work, it's a benefit which someone not in your job would not have access to, and thus it's both fair and reasonable that you get taxed on it. This could be avoided by the employer opening up the car parking to the public. But we can't have that obviously, the oiks might start getting ideas above their station.

mjm3346

Wayne_park-uk wrote: »

The problem with the parking at work Tax is that the consumer will rebel and park on the street!

As one of our petition signers put it:

Quote:
Think of local residences and how this will effect them by having cars turn up in their streets to avoid the tax. Think also how emergency services will be effected by lessened access to dwellings if roads are clogged up with additional cars parked in them, also avoiding the tax. This tax will cause more problems than solve the Government\\\'s attempt to save money.

On street parking will just increase the revenue stream - "for the benefit" of local residents there will be a massive increase in residents permit holders only parking (at a cost of course) and more mon to fri 6 am to 6 pm metered or no parking zones.

opinions4u

Disagree

kickwhamstunner wrote: »

The bottom line is that if your employer provides you with a parking space at work, it's a benefit which someone not in your job would not have access to, and thus it's both fair and reasonable that you get taxed on it.

Of course, firms providing workplace parking faciltiies are ensuring that local residents don't get impacted by on-street parking.

It frees up spaces in shopping car parks, increasing income for local traders (and presumably the amount of tax they pay) and, ultimately, an international business may just take the view that they should base their operations elsewhere because of extra administration that they have to carry out to either pay the tax directly, place the tax in to P11Ds or deduct employee salaries direct. It's not as if the UK is exactly tax competitive to start with. Straws can break the camels back.

I'm already paying an obscene amount in tax everyday to simply get to a workplace with poor public transport connections to my home. You can shove your extra taxes right where they belong thank you.

I suppose an alternative would be to take a lower paid job nearer home. Oh, but that would reduce tax revenues wouldn't it.

kickwhamstunner

opinions4u wrote: »

and, ultimately, an international business may just take the view that they should base their operations elsewhere because of extra administration that they have to carry out to either pay the tax directly, place the tax in to P11Ds

I'll respond to this in more detail when I've stopped laughing at you.

This will probably be in about 4 months. Goddamn son, put the Kool-Aid away.

Cook_County

Given that automobiles use far more resources than their owners pay pay for, it seems entirely sensible to increase tax on motorists so as to reduce the number of cars - so saving my health today and valuable resources for future generations.

Charging tax for workplace and shopping mall parking are both long overdue.