This Thursday’s City of York Full Council will see Labour put a motion urging support for what would be known as a Tourist Tax as it seeks to implement a ‘visitor levy for overnight stays’ which would be ‘including short-term holiday lets’.
Whist Tourist Taxes exist in Europe they are not yet common in the UK and indeed cannot currently be brough in across England unless they are voluntary. In York the ruling Labour administration has had a typically clumsy attempt to get York business to support a voluntary levy but, unsurprisingly given the way Labour has hit business over the last year, this has come to nothing.
Conservatives in York do not rule out supporting some form of ‘Tourist Tax’ in the future but state that it must:
1. Be discussed if and when national legislation changes, York should not be seen to be lobbying to tax people.
2. Be proportionate and used in a way that brings visitors and residents new benefits, not to fund Labour’s blackholes in council spending.
3. Done working with business and appreciating the varying parts of the market and therefore varying ways in which there will be next to no impact or a significant impact.
Commenting Cllr Chris Steward, leader of York’s Conservative Group said:
It remains the case that York does not have the power to implement a Tourist Tax and Labour’s attempts to get a voluntary levy agreed by hotels have failed, we would therefore much rather concentrate at council on what we can do to improve residents’ lives rather than posturing. There is a danger in negative publicity for York if the city is seen to lead the charge for a new tax. Tourist taxes are likely to become more common though and if they do we would be unlikely to oppose it for York. The key is it would have to be transparent, not overly onerous so it changes behaviour and would also have to be put to specific uses to improve things (whether in transport, the public realm, or another use) to improve things for visitors and residents; it must not be used to fill holes in finances caused by Labour’s incompetence.
Photo credit: Billy Wilson on Flickr