Labour has announced a new tax!

[EvangelicalAboutButteredToast]

I know, I know, we’re all shocked.

In the King’s speech today. A new tourist tax that would be applied to overnight accommodation. It’s called the Overnight Visitor Levy Bill and could add around 5% onto hotel, B&B, guesthouse costs. They are pushing it through as we speak, I guess in time for summer.

Please let us know what all these taxes are? Or are you just making stuff up?

Will it be ringfenced for local use?

The tourist taxes in LA are 14%.

Good!

Well this is shit for us that have to stay in hotels NOT for holidays. We have to fork out a tonne already for hotels and it's not even for leisure.

So we’ve got VAT on private school fees (a luxury for the privileged 6%) and the (very small) mansion tax. What else?

Good idea. Loads of other countries do the same. They should also introduce museum fees for non British nationals too (where museums are currently free for all - Nat Hist, V&A, science)

Oh - just like the Tories then!

This site - https://ifs.org.uk/publications/governments-record-tax-2010-24 - says the tax burden for the Parliament that started in 2019 was the highest since 1948 and it saw the biggest rise in the tax take of any parliament in modern history.

It certainly does - the number of children who have now left private school is now at the point where it is costing more money than the tax has raised.

Pretty much every other country with a good tourist trade does this. We should be doing it. It doesn’t stop tourism. And it brings money in without taxing our income any more. What is it you don’t like about this @EvangelicalAboutButteredToast ?

So you want the government to solve the COL crisis, sort out the massive debts left by the Tories but you dont want it to cost you anything? Good luck with that!

Do you have any evidence to back up this claim?

It LITERALLY isnt.

i’m in Scotland and apparently it isn’t going to affect here, but the Scottish government have been talking about a tourist levy for a few years, but ours would give local councils the power to put on a fee for overnight stays, and the money would go to the council to be used in the local area. I’ll need to google what is happening with that.

Edit - turns out the bill passed. Scotland has that power but I’ve stayed in hotel all over Scotland and have never seen the charge. I wonder if I’ve just never noticed or if they aren’t charging it.

You're a bit slow off the mark, aren't you?

Normal in most places, I’d like to see charges for overseas tourists for museums too

I can see it both ways but I feel UK residents should be exempt as it’s our country. I would hope that most tourist destinations here have enough overseas visitors coming to be able to support them using this tax. I always assumed when we paid it in various Greek places that it was only for non-Greek tourists and maybe that’s why I separated the two groups in my head.

Literally all they have done? So all that foreign policy stuff was a figment of our imagination? Also massively cutting down the list of asylum claims still waiting to be processed? All those Acts of Parliament passed over the last two years?

Scotland has that power but I’ve stayed in hotel all over Scotland and have never seen the charge. I wonder if I’ve just never noticed or if they aren’t charging it.

Edinburgh has it. 5%, charged on the first 5 nights of a stay, not just hotels, also B&Bs, hostels, self catering apartments. Glasgow and Aberdeen to follow suit in 2027, also campaigns to introduce similar in the Highlands to deal with the amount of litter and potholes caused by over tourism in places like Skye and Glencoe.

Like what?

That's great that it won't bother you but it will bother some people.

As much of hospitality is hanging on by a thread, mostly in part to this foolish and inept government, this-for many- will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Large hotels will keep going but if small and medium sized restaurants lose one table every two nights because someone has chosen not to visit a city because of this, it won't be peanuts to them.

Of course, to many Labour supporters, any tax is a good thing.

Thank goodness, for the most part, much of the Labour Party are uneducated because if they cracked open a history book, they would be inspired by historical taxes such as: window tax; wallpaper tax and beard tax to name just three.

Still, give them time.

I stayed in hotels in Edinburgh twice this year and didn’t notice it! One was £950 a night as well and it’s totally gone over my head if they added a 5% charge… I’m away to look at the booking! 😂

You just need to compare the numbers leaving against Labours own assumptions.

This is 6 months old but is pretty comprehensive: https://taxpayersalliance.com/tax-rise-every-ten-days-since-labour-came-to-power/

Just because you don’t personally see or feel taxes rising doesn’t mean they aren’t. They have done significant damage to our economy, particularly small businesses, and have done nothing to ease the continuing COL crisis.

They haven't exactly introduced a new tax; they've introduced the option for local mayors and councils to levy such a tax and use the proceeds for local infrastructure, tourism, and services. Previously there was no way to do this locally in England apart from a few cities' “Business Improvement District” (BID) fees.

Not sure where you live but since about 2023 Manchester have been charging £1 per night “city visitor charges” - if you stay in the city centre (within the ABID - Accommodation Business Improvement District) you pay it when you check in to your hotel and I think Liverpool have introduced something similar!