BUSINESSES could be hit with crippling fines for ignoring the new parking tax based on experience south of the border, the Scottish Conservatives have claimed.
The Tories highlighted the Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) in Nottingham, where employers can be charged more than £200 a day for every parking bay without a licence.
SNP Finance Secretary Derek Mackay has agreed to empower councils to set their own WPL as part of a deal with the Scottish Greens on the 2019/20 budget.
He later admitted he had not carried out any economic impact analysis of the idea, which is expected to take several years to deliver in practice.
READ MORE: Plans for a new tax on workplace parking spaces condemned as a 'mess'
Although backed on the ground by councils on a cross-party basis, the WPL is opposed by Labour, LibDem and Tory MSPs and by a variety of business groups.
The only WPL in England is run by Nottingham City Council, which charges employers with more than 10 parking spaces £415 a year for each one under a licensing scheme.
If employers pass on the cost to their staff, VAT is added and the bill rises to £498.
The Tories have now highlighted the sanctions regime in place in Nottingham.
READ MORE: Warning VAT could hike 'parking tax' to £500 for workers
Official guidance says that if employers fail to obtain a WPL licence, or fail to licence all their spaces, “they may be given the chance to remedy their contravention” of the rules.
But it goes on: “However, continued non-compliance can result in Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) being issued.
“Where any workplace parking is being provided at premises without a licence, or the licence does not cover all the workplace parking spaces, the PCNs will be for 50 per cent of the annual charge per unlicensed place for each day a contravention occurs.”
As the current fee is £415, the daily PCN per bay would be £207.50.
Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “This crazy plan will land businesses and workers with huge costs which are simply unaffordable, especially in this climate.
“Now we learn any firms which don’t comply to the letter could be slapped with fines of hundreds or indeed thousands of pounds per day.
“It’s yet more evidence that this scheme should be dropped at once.
“It’s bitterly unfair on the thousands of workers across Scotland who have no choice but to take their car to work.
“The SNP is making life hard enough for businesses in Scotland to thrive – this latest tax raid will only compound that misery.”
READ MORE: Labour MSP brands parking tax an 'outrage' despite his party floating it two years ago
The Scottish Government says any WPL will be at the discretion of local authorities and based on local circumstances, so any predicted costs to businesses or individual workers “are speculation at this point”.
A Government spokesperson said: “We will be engaging with the Green Party and stakeholders in the run-up to Stage 2 of the Transport Bill to help shape the specifics. The amendment will then be subject to the normal parliamentary scrutiny and approval.”
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