Municipalities are studying the possibility of modulating the price of parking according to the income of motorists.
If the measure aims above all, not to exempt the most modest, but in reality to make the most fortunate pay, its legal feasibility is to date more than compromised.
Although there is a principle of equality of users before the law and consequently in the use of the public domain, there is nothing to prevent tariff exemptions from being allowed between users.
For example, pricing relating to parking can be adjusted according to specific categories of users.
This is the case for the price of parking fixed differently depending on whether or not the user is a resident of the municipality concerned.
The judges believe that a difference in treatment is possible because of an objective difference in situation between residents and other users of the public road since there is a difference in situation directly linked to the payment for parking.
However, this derogation from the principle of equality cannot be extended to other criteria for determining the cost of parking.
The courts have indeed censured in the past the city of Grenoble which had fixed the price of the parking according to the amount of the family quotient judging that "the family quotients of the residents do not reveal objectively different situations, in connection with the private occupation of the public roads justifying special treatment ”.
Just like the family quotient, social and solidarity pricing indexed to users 'income has no direct link with the occupation of the public domain since users' income has no influence on the very use of the public highway.
Such a project is therefore already doomed to failure.
