John Timpson, chief executive of the eponymous chain of high-street cobblers and Real Business columnist, writes:
"I was a student at Nottingham University in the early sixties (I met an unknown group called The Rolling Stones in Slab Square) but, in those days, few people paid for parking.
"Today we have four shops in the city centre and several in the surrounding area but none of our colleagues have the benefit of a free car space. For some, parking is a significant expense. There is logic in treating employee parking spaces as a benefit in kind – but the last thing we need is another tax.
"Local authorities have created a major new industry out of waste disposal and wheelie-bin management, the same thing could happen to off-road parking. Businesses need less government interference, not more regulation. The next two years are going to be tougher for trade than most people imagine. To improve confidence within the private sector, our tax system needs to become simpler, not more complicated.
"It is time to stop the fashion for stable-door legislation which produces new laws in response to the latest disaster and media campaign. Is it a political pipe dream to wish that the next government will slim down the statute book and reduce the number of taxes?"
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