Are negative values allowed for the padding property?

The padding property in CSS is designed to create space inside an element, between the element's content and its border. Negative values are not allowed for the padding property because they would imply that the content is overlapping with the border, which undermines the very purpose of padding. Instead of providing additional space, negative padding would decrease the space, resulting in a confusing layout that does not conform to the intended design principles of CSS.

In practice, if you attempt to use a negative value for padding, the CSS standard dictates that the value will be invalid and ignored, resulting in the element being rendered as if the padding had not been set. This ensures that elements maintain their structure and layout consistency according to the design specifications. Thus, the answer that negative values for padding are not allowed is accurate.