Parking Fines ruling affects Inland Revenue

Anonemouse over at the Anglo Saxon Chronicle tells an interesting tale.

Last week a judge ruled that the Bill of Rights wasn't a defence against parking fines because parking fines aren't fines. He has deigned to tell us what they are instead - they are civil responsibilities - so the line in the Bill of Rights that says (in archaic English) "any promise of fine or forfeiture before conviction is illegal and void" doesn't apply.

Interesting. This saves the £1.2bn per year criminal decriminalised parking industry but poses a bit of a problem for HM Revenue & Customs.

You see, if a company pays a parking fine it can't claim the tax back off it as HMRC's rules specifically exclude parking fines. But parking fines aren't fines, they're civil responsibilities which means that they are allowable business expenses and businesses can set-off their "civil responsibilities" against their tax bills. This is probably going to cost HMRC millions in tax rebates, put extra strain on the treasury and mean that public spending will have to be cut back to absorb the cost and all in the name of denying English citizens their legal rights.