Park at work? That will be £650 a year
AXE THE SNP CAR PARK TAX
WORKERS could be forced to pay up to £650 a year to park at the office as council chiefs try to push through the SNP’s hated ‘poll tax on wheels’.
The controversial Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) is predicted to raise up to £19million annually in Edinburgh alone, according to transport bosses.
Under the scheme, councils have the power to introduce a levy and choose the area in which it would apply and the amount charged. Motorists would have to pay hundreds of pounds to park at work if the cost is passed on by employers.
The City of Edinburgh Council has now published a report revealing it could charge between £450 and £650 every year per space.
Transport convener Scott Arthur said the council will speak to trade unions about the scheme, adding: ‘If it’s going to go ahead it’s our duty to make it work as much as possible for the city.’
Business leaders have hit out at the move, saying it will damage firms as they try to recover from the financial impact of the pandemic and rising costs. Retail, with 233,000 jobs, is Scotland’s largest private sector employer. But shopper footfall and shop occupancy rates since the lifting of lockdown have remained far below 2019 levels.
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: ‘If Edinburgh city council gives the green light to this it would see firms taxed twice for the parking places they provide for staff, on top of the business rates already paid on those spaces.
‘The introduction of any such levies should be paused for at least 18 months until the costs crunch facing firms has lessened and economic conditions have markedly improved.’
Options surrounding the charge in Edinburgh will be presented to councillors next week. They are expected to approve plans to go ahead, having already voted overwhelmingly in favour of exploring the scheme further. The report sets out a range of options, which include only enforcing the levy on workplaces with 50 or more bays.
It is estimated that up to £13.8million could be generated if the WPL boundary encompassed the entire local authority area, with businesses with fewer than 50 parking spaces exempt.
The maximum that could be raised by enforcing the levy on all Edinburgh workplaces with no exemptions would be £18.9million. Parking places at hospices and certain spaces at NHS sites would be exempt from the charge.
Conservative MSP Miles Briggs said: ‘This report will strike terror into the hearts of hard-pressed businesses and employees in Edinburgh. The last thing they need in the middle of a global cost of living crisis is the council imposing another swingeing tax on them.’
He said the levy ‘penalises those who rely on their car to get to work – including relatively lowpaid staff in the night-time hospitality sector who can’t get public transport home when they finish’.
The Scottish Government has the power to cap charges but has rejected calls to do so, insisting it is a matter for local authorities.