The new Electronic System for Travel Authorisation tax (ESTA) payable by travellers to the US since the start of September is causing indignation in the European Parliament.
EU members have been grumbling that the £9 fee’s purpose is utterly ironic – as although a small part of it is to pay for processing arrivals into the country, the majority is to fund the country’s promotion of the US as a tourism destination.
Labelled “incongruous” and “counter to US-EU agreements”, the tax also caused chaos when it was introduced in early September as the site on which travellers must apply for it continually crashed.
European Parliament member Alexander Graf Lambsdorff told the house: “I think it is a bit bizarre to introduce a tax to promote tourism. It seems a bit absurd that the US of all countries would tax people who are not represented in this debate.”
When the US announced the tax back in the summer, officials in Europe made their opposition clear, saying the tax was “inconsistent with the commitment of the US to facilitate trans-Atlantic mobility.”
