Commuting, congestion, and pollution : the employer-paid parking connection
-
1992-09-01
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Publication/ Report Number:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:Urban areas increasingly face problems associated with traffic congestion and vehicle air emissions. Employer-paid parking--a form of matching grant whereby an employer offers to pay the cost of parking if employees are willing to pay all other costs of driving to work--contributes to the tendency of employees to drive alone to work. In Los Angeles, survey results show that employer-paid parking: increases the number of solo drivers by 44%; increases parking demand by 34%; increases automobile vehicle miles traveled to work by 33%; increases gasoline consumed for driving to work by 33%; increases the cost of automobile travel to work by 33%; and increases the total cost of parking at work and driving to work by 33%. Although employers spend an average of $750 per employee per year for parking subsidies ($563 in replaced employee spending, and $187 in stimulated spending), the employees' own average spending for parking and driving declines by only $183 per year. In offering to pay for their employees' parking at work, employers are responding to the Internal Revenue Code's so-called "special rule for parking", which defines employer-paid parking subsidies as a "working condition fringe" that is exempt from income taxation. Given the political difficulty of taxing employer-paid parking subsidies, an alternative policy would be to amend the special rule for parking in Paragraph (4) of Section 132(h) as follows: The term "working condition fringe" includes parking provided to an employee on or near the business premises of the employer if the employer offers the employee the option to receive in lieu of the parking, the fair market value of the parking subsidy, either as a taxable cash commute allowance or as a mass transit or ridesharing subsidy. This proposal to cash out employer-paid parking does not charge commuters for using parking, but rather pays them for not using parking. Cashing out employer-paid parking is like paying commuters to stop driving to work alone. It is a step in the right direction because it rewards people for doing the right thing. References.
-
Format:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
Download URL:
-
File Type: