Workplace parking charge plans are 'tax on work'

Charging firms for the parking spaces they provide to employees amounts to a "tax on work", a motoring organisation has said.

And the proposed scheme for workplace charging, which could see councils receiving hundreds of pounds a year for each space, has also been slammed by businesses.

The criticism comes after junior Transport Minister Paul Clark last week announced the start of a 12-week consultation on the 'workplace parking levy'. Although the principle of the charges was placed into law by the Transport Act 2000, the consultation covers additional regulations necessary before schemes could come into force.

"This is a stealth tax on business," said David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce.

"The workplace parking levy is purely a means to generate more funds for councils at the expense of local companies and their ability to compete," he added.

It is widely thought that firms will pass the charges on to employees. Speaking to the Daily Mail, AA president Edmund King said: "The last thing that employees, and indeed employers, want is a tax on work in the current financial and economic climate.

"Many employees who work shifts or take their children to school have to drive - the workplace parking levy will place an unfair burden on people just trying to go about their daily lives."

IMAGE Adam Peck/PA Photos