From Monica Ison.
I WAS incensed on reading the article (JEP, 22 January) reporting that the new Transport Minister, Mike Jackson, wanted to tax people who pay for their own parking spaces. What a cheek!

Firstly, where I live there is no bus service, not even a minibus commuter service. I would have to walk a mile and a half on a very dangerous route (with no footpath and no lights) to one bus stop and two miles in the other direction to another. Would he like to do it, with the wind and the rain beating down against him – and this before he starts a day’s work or on the way home after a hard day’s work and carrying bags of heavy shopping? I think not.

As there are always fewer parking spaces available in the public car parks than the number of cars that want to fill them, I have had to resort to paying for a private space. I pay for this out of my own money, unlike some States and/or private employees who are lucky enough to get their parking free. Is the Transport Minister going to tax all the States office employees with parking spaces, and the States Members?

Again the government want to tax the middle classes, who are doing their best to just keep afloat. We already pay tax on petrol, plus GST. Surely the answer is to build large car parks on the outskirts of town and provide a park-and-ride scheme for commuters and shoppers alike to use. Large towns in England operate this system and it works very well.

Until there is a bus running nearby and at reasonable hours, I have no choice but to use a car. A decent Islandwide transport system must be in place before the government starts taxing those people who pay for a space.
Journey’s End,
Le Couvent,
St Lawrence.