You may find you will be taxed this year for parking at your work place.

This little-known tax has been ignored for years but may be enforced this year on those who work for churches, non-profits and schools in Lexington County.

Taxing for parking has been on the books for years to both profit and non-profits and treated as a benefit, Scott Adams, a Lexington attorney and dean of the Columbia International University Business School said.

The rationale is that the employer is covering a cost that the employee would otherwise be obligated to pay, making it a benefit.

Allowing employees who benefit the organization to park on your own property would be a proper private use of private property, Adams said. A number of constitutional issues support a challenge to the tax.

This is the first year tax-exempt groups face the tax.

What is not clear is how much non-profits must pay if a group owns its parking lot.

The national Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability has circulated a petition opposing the tax. Thousands of non-profits have called for its repeal.

At least 61 SC groups have signed the petition.