They’re taxing parking spaces. I’m going to say that again. The government are taxing our parking spaces.

I mean, I know they’re broke and desperate and they’ll do absolutely anything to screw us, but what the actual frog in a pot? They’re taxing the parking spaces. And they’re not just taxing them. No, no. Soon the taxes will be going up even higher. In Victoria at the start of 2026, the tax rates on car parks are going up by 73% and the Victorian government will rake in in excess of $200 million from taxing, I’m going to say it again, the car parks. And Victoria is not alone. New South Wales have a similar scheme going on, a parking space tax, which in their case ras in over $und00 million a year. And in Queensland, there’s been talk of following suit over the last 10 years, but it hasn’t materialized into any legislation yet anywhere outside of New South Wales and Victoria.

We need to talk about this because the deeper into the details we go, the crazier this tax becomes.

I’ve talked before about how in Australia, our federalist system as it stands today since the introduction of the GST, most taxing powers are in the hands of the federal government. States are not allowed to impose their own income taxes or consumption taxes, which means that cash strapped states like Victoria are getting really aggressive and really creative with the taxes that they do have power over, things like stamp duty, land tax, payroll tax, and yes, traffic fines and taxes on car parking spaces. But the other thing that the states have gotten really good at is actually hiding their taxes into places where the average Joe won’t notice them.

And this car park tax is a case in point. And I’ll bet most Victorians don’t even know that it exists. And when we pull up to a car park in the city and grumble, as we should, about the price of parking, I’ll bet that almost no one realizes just how much money a multi-story car park operator is having to hand over to the government in rates, land taxes, and this so-called congestion levy, this parking spaces tax for the privilege of providing parking in the city. Spoiler alert, it’s a lot of money.

But before we get to that, my name’s Topher Field. This is the Topher Project, and I help busy people like you to keep up with the world as it changes around us. And we definitely need to keep up with the new and increasing taxes being imposed by desperate governments, most notably Victoria, as they stare down the barrel of impending credit rating downgrades and a serious debt spiral. I’m 100% viewer supported. I don’t have advertisers. I don’t have sponsors and I don’t have the luxury of being able to impose taxes or raise levies to fund what I do, which means I depend on you to help me keep the Topher project going first and foremost by buying me a coffee via the button at topherfield.net.

And if you appreciate my videos, then you will love my books about government, power, and civil disobedience. You’ll find both of my books, plus my DVD documentary, Battleground Melbourne, plus all of my t-shirts and hoodies in a range of designs at goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com. Now, I’ll be discontinuing five of my original Topher designs at the end of November. So, time is running out for you to grab any of these five designs that you see here, including my personal favorite, too much 1984, Not Enough, 1776, as well as the other designs that you do see here. Once they’re gone, they are gone forever. And these designs will never be coming back. So head over to good peoplebreakbadlaws.com before the end of November and grab yours whilst stocks last. And everything you buy, of course, will help me to keep the Topher project going.

First things first, we need to take stock of just how much tax a car parking operator in Victoria is already paying before we add this parking spaces tax or congestion levy as they like to call it. Now, I’ve used the AC/DC garage as my reference point. That’s the one that you access from Flinders Lane just in behind Flinders Street. Now, full disclosure, I have used Grok to help me crunch these numbers, but I have had a look at the assumptions and the inputs that Grok has used and I made it correct a few errors. For example, it was initially using the wrong land size for the AC/DC car park. But it now all looks pretty good to me. So, these numbers will not be exact, but they will be pretty close.

The owners of AC/DC car park are paying something like $700,000 a year in land tax.

Now, that assumes that my estimate of the car park footprint of only 1,422 m is correct. It might actually be bigger than that, which would make the land tax far higher. Then we need to add about $200,000 in council rates plus about $50,000 for the emergency services and volunteers fund levy. Meaning that the owners are paying about $960,000 each year just in those state and local council taxes. I’m ignoring federal taxes or the myriad of other taxes and levies that they will also be paying.

But the Victorian government thinks that nearly a million dollars from a car park operator is not enough. and they’ve added this congestion levy or car parking space tax on top. And given the AC/DC car park has 1,221 spaces and the levy is currently $1,750 per space, the Victorian government is getting a cool $2.136 million a year, meaning that already the congestion levy alone is more than twice the land tax and council rates combined. But according to the Victorian government, that wasn’t enough. And as of January next year, the rate per car park goes up to $3,030 per space, meaning the congestion levy alone will cost the operators of the AC/DC car park $3.7 million on top of their land tax and council rates, making their Victorian state and local council tax bill $4.665 million before they’ve opened, before they’ve actually allowed a single car through their front gate. $4.665 million for the crime of existing.

Then you and I pull up and we look at the prices and we complain that these parking operators, they’re ripping us off. And yeah, I don’t like paying for parking either. And I know parking operators at Wilson and all those guys, we all love to hate them, me included. But I’ll bet you didn’t realize until now just how much they have to pay in taxes just to exist. And the Victorian government aren’t just increasing the rates for this so-called congestion levy. They are also increasing the size of the area that this levy applies to, taking in East Melbourne and Richmond now as well. Hence, the revenue from this tax will be well over $200 million next financial year from a tax on car parks.

There’s a couple more things you need to know. The first is that if you own a private car park within the area subject to these levies, you don’t have to pay the tax if your car park is used purely for private vehicles. But you do have to fill out a form every year telling the state revenue office that your car park is privately owned and privately used and you should not be hit with a $3,000 car parking tax. So, now every single resident with a house or an apartment that has a car park inside that area has to spend their time filling out a form each and every year to tell the state revenue office. Hello, sir. I promise I used my car parking space for my own car this year. Honest, I did. Please don’t charge me $3,000 for the sin of owning a place where I park my own car. Please, sir, may I have some more? It’s pathetic.

The government doesn’t own you or your car park.

And in my opinion, no government has any moral authority to impose these sorts of arbitrary taxes in the first place, let alone to reduce their own residents to Oliveresque supplicants, begging for permission to be allowed to own the basics of life, a place to put your car. Now, the justification for this so-called congestion charge is that it’s supposed to be discouraging driving and encouraging the use of public transport. And we’re promised hand on heart that the money raised by this levy will be used to improve public transport, just like we were promised that the revenue from road fines would go towards fixing the roads. And that’s worked out well now, hasn’t it?

The truth is that the state of Victoria is among the most indebted states on earth. And despite their flimsy claims of a budget surplus, the debt is expected to grow by 25% in just the next four years. And they’re staring down the barrel of a credit downgrade again because they already had one in 2020. and a credit downgrade will increase their borrowing costs, which causes their interest rate bill to sore, which pushes Victoria deeper into deficit and deeper into a debt spiral. The truth is that Victoria and the Victorian government, they are trying to come up with every conceivable trick and technique to raise revenue. And charging car park owners $3,000 a year just for offering one space for where people can put their cars. Well, that looks like a great idea when you’ve run out of money and you’ve run out of actually good ideas.

And sadly, this isn’t going to change anytime soon. The state is broke and they are refusing to cut spending in any meaningful way, which means they’re going to keep finding new and ever more creative ways to extract fees and taxes and charges from you in ways that you don’t necessarily see. So, what do you do about it? Well, I left Victoria 2 and a half years ago, and I’ll tell you, I don’t regret it. Although it is also true that the rest of Australia is on the same path but behind by a good couple of years. But even with that in mind, I’ve got to say getting out of Victoria felt pretty nice.

But the reality is that this continues to happen both in Victoria and across Australia.

And it will continue to happen until voters change the political incentives. See, right now politicians get rewarded for promising to spend more. This high-spending, high taxing, high debt spiral will continue until we, the voting public, change the political incentives. I talk about this in detail in my first best-selling book, Good People Break Bad Laws. This is about government power, human rights, and civil disobedience. And I discuss in detail the perverse incentives of politics, including the do something reflex and why good people so often turn bad once they get into politics.

Then there’s my second bestselling book, Good Christians Break Bad Laws, which is all about the theology of civil disobedience. You’ll find both of my books on Amazon. But if you go to goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com, you’ll find not just my two books, but also my multi-award-winning documentary, Battleground Melbourne, plus my t-shirts and hoodies in a range of designs, some funny, some serious, all designed to be thought-provoking conversation starters. And remember that five of my designs are being discontinued at the end of November. That’s not far away. So grab your favorites now before stocks run out. And everything you buy helps me to keep the Topher project going.

And finally, the Topher project runs on two things. My deeply seated cynicism after 16 years as a political commentator and caffeine. I’ll bring the cynicism if you’ll help to keep me supplied with the caffeine via the buy to a coffee button at topherfield.net. Thanks for your support. We’re working towards some amazing things for 2026 and we couldn’t do it without your help.

And thank you also for watching all the way to the end. The algorithm loves you and so do I. Please like, comment, make sure you’ve subscribed,

And as always, think free.