Figures from the Department for Levelling Up show motorists paid £1.93 billion in fees and fines in the year to April 2023 - up from £1.76 billion the previous year.
It comes as local authorities will this month increase parking charges by as much as 60 per cent as they face soaring debts and limits on the amount they can raise council tax.
They include East Grinstead, West Sussex, where fees will rise by as much as 30 per cent in some car parks and 29 per cent in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
In Kirklees, the West Yorkshire authority for Huddersfield, Holmfirth and Dewsbury, parking fees are increasing this month by 60 per cent, according to The Sunday Times.
Elsewhere, in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, parking fees will rise 20 per cent on April 19.
However, the area has put in place a new system to monitor prices in a bid to avoid deterring shoppers and harming the local economy.
Dan Hubert, chief executive of Appy Way, which has created the new system, told The Sunday Times: 'High streets have been dwindling and cars and parking have been treated as a cash cow. In some cases cities pay more for enforcement than they collect.
Paul Swinney, director of policy and research at Centre for Cities, a think tank, said: 'For years we have heard arguments that parking charges are killing the high street. Now we will be able to see if that is actually the case.'
Meanwhile, the new National Parking Platform, to be used this month by some local authorities will also provide real-time information on the use of parking bays.
The service will also mean drivers no longer need to download different parking apps for different areas.
It comes after a Mail investigation revealed more than two million drivers will soon live in 'parking meter deserts'.
Pay and display machines are increasingly being scrapped in favour of cashless options such as mobile phone apps.
A poll commissioned by the Mail last year found more than half of over-65s do not feel like using parking apps such as RingGo and PayByPhone.
And four in ten respondents of all ages said they would be put off going to town centres that lacked parking meters.
Elsewhere, a public consultation is currently underway in London to consider whether parking penalties should rise from £160 on roads managed by Transport for London and £130 on borough roads.
The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, said: 'Income raised through parking charges is spent on running parking services. Any surplus is spent on essential transport projects, including fixing the £16 billion road repairs backlog, reducing congestion, tackling poor air quality and supporting local bus services.
'Motorists can avoid fines by ensuring they observe parking and traffic rules that are only there to help all drivers get around and find parking safely, smoothly and fairly.'